Anti Reality
by Moondweller483
Summary: AU Korra's had it rough, she grew up on the streets and became so desperate for money that she went against all she believed in and tried to mug a man, the scars on his face stops her in her tracks as well as his offer of dinner. The brief meeting is the catalyst for a friendship, a bond, a war and so much more in this Anti Reality. Rated M for. later Amorra and Korrlok themes
1. Knife to meet you

**1a/n Thanks for the support of my last story, this was something that was playing on my mind for awhile, what if Korra lived in a world more like our own, where an Avatar didn't exist as far as she knew and she lived on the streets. Really not sure **_**where**_** this story will end up, but it is Amorra intentions so without further delay, the story. **

…

Weighing the knife in her hand, she peaked out from around the corner. "Next guy that goes by, I'll do it." she told herself. She'd been standing there for over twenty minutes in the shadow's of an alleyway telling herself that.

From a very young age, Korra had been living on the streets with two brothers and a girl that she just happened to meet by chance Asami, Mako and Bolin. They did what they could to survive which had been enough for years, but now that Korra was 17, Bolin was 16 and Mako and Asami were both 19, begging for people's mercy didn't work so well anymore and no one seemed to want to hire 'street riffraff'.

Korra saw movement and was about to lunge and rob whomever it was that walked by, when she saw it was a mother and her child. The child's face was wet with tears, but the mother smiled with sweet reassurance before picking the child up and looking lovingly at him. Seeing the scene felt like someone dropped a rock in Korra's stomach.

As far back as Korra could remember, their was no _mom _or_ dad _for her, there had always been a Mako, a Bolin and an Asami, but never a mom and dad. Both of Korra's parents had been shot dead in front of her; Her earliest memory was at the age of five, she remembers crying, face covered in blood and a man reaching out to her and carrying away from the bloody mess that had once been Korra's parents. The minute the man turned his back, Korra had already run off frightened by the loud policemen and bright flashing lights. She wasn't sure how far or how long she had run, when she found herself among other kids; Bolin, Mako, and Asami. The three had been parentless and living off the street for awhile and immediately accepted the young sobbing Korra into their little group and the rest was history. After about a year of hiding out, the Korra's missing signs were scarce and she was more or less written off as dead, but that was fine with her, she had her three best friends.

The idea of robbing now far out of mind, Korra turned and began making her way through the back streets to their old dilapidated building that they called home.

"I'm back." Korra called as the door squeaked open. Dust flittered in the air as it was displaced.

"Hey, Korra." Bolin called running up to hug her, "You get anything useful today? Or any _food_ perhaps?" Green eyes lit up like christmas lights as he mentioned food.

"Nah, sorry Bo, I didn't have any luck today, how about you guys?"

"Asami and Mako are still out, they're out a lot these day…" Bolin sighed as the two of them flopped down on the floor and the stray dog they kept, named Naga, ran up to sit with them.

"You think they got jobs or something?" Korra absently petted Naga's head as she spoke.

"Maybe." Bolin shrugged, "I thin they feel like they need to take responsibility for us since they're older or something." he pouted, "Anyway, I did manage to snag a day old donuts from a bakery, there's one for everyone, I was gonna wait for us all to be together to eat them, but I don't know when those two will be back." Bolin pouted as he stared lustfully at the donuts that sat on one of the less dusty tables in the house.

Korra smiled at his expression, "Well when they get back they can eat theirs together, I'm hungry so let's just eat now."

"Cool!" Bolin beamed, already at his feet and heading for the donuts before she could even finish the sentence.

Korra bit down into the slightly hard donut and savored the sweet taste that spread on her tongue.

"_Sooooo goooood_." Bolin sighed around a mouthful of the stale donut goodness. Korra laughed, the heavy feeling that sat on her chest earlier gone from being around one of her best friends. Bolin wiped his mouth on his sleeve before tearing his eyes away from his snack and looking up at her, "I think Mako is gonna start doing martial arts, he got in a fight with a guy a few days ago, and this old man came up to him and told him about how he runs a mixed martial arts place in town. Mako can get paid if he's good at it, so I think that's where he went, Asami probably went as support." the heavy feeling that sat on Korra's chest found it's way back, but now for a new reason.

"Why did Asami go? He could have went with you, you're his little brother after all, aren't you the best moral support he can get?" Even though Korra said that, they both knew what she was really trying to say. How was Asami the one he wanted by his side? For the past few years, Korra had begun to harbor a crush on Mako. He was the guy that she went to for everything; for advice, help, random talks, if she wanted company, he was always the one she went to, but as her adoration for him grew, his eyes seemed to slowly turn to Asami. Even living on the streets, Asami had managed to come off with an air of refinement that Korra lacked yet Mako shared with her, neither of them seemed like people that had lived on the street at any point of their lives, anyone who had ever spoken to them would agree. Asami and Mako were almost model like people, tall, thin and both noticeably good looking, they looked great together and balanced each other well, and seeing that, stung at Korra's heart from the day she noticed Mako only looking Asami's way.

The chunk of donut that tasted heavenly a moment ago seemingly turned to sand and sat heavily on her chest as she choked it down. Bolin looked at her with cautious eyes, unsure of what was on Korra's mind.

"Well, if he can get good money doing that and he's good at it, maybe he can put in a good word for me and I can make money doing it too, after all, I can't let all of my manliness go to waste." Bolin held up a muscle and unleashed a cheesy smile. Korra forced herself to laugh, but it sounded fake even to her own ears. Bolin sighed, "Well at least it'll be a good start, maybe then, we won't have to live as rough as we do now, I don't want to live as a petty thief forever… I wanna have a good life." his voice was dreamy as if his thoughts were far away, dreaming of a better life perhaps, but Korra's thoughts stayed closer to home, hovering on the sick feeling in her stomach.

Korra opened her mouth to admit that she also wanted better than this life even though she wasn't sure how to get it, when the door burst open. Asami and Mako glided into the room, holding hands and smiling so brightly that it stung Korra's eyes.

"Guess who got a chance to start making some good money?" Asami laughed bubbly as she held up Mako's hand like a referee announcing a winner.

"I did!" Mako laughed bouncing on the tips of his toes in an almost childlike manner, "The guy who owns the place just opened up down here he's got a lot of fighters already but he said I was a great find, but it gets better, I mentioned I had a little brother who can hold his own in a fight, and he wants to meet you too Bo!" Mako seemed happier than Korra had ever seen him, seeing that made her feel happy, despite how crumby the fact that he was holding Asami's hand made her feel.

"Me?" Bolin got to his feet and joined the smiling pair with a smile of his own.

"You got your wish, Bo." Korra laughed, and was relieved that it sounded more genuine then the laugh from before.

"It get's better." Mako went on before Bolin could reply, "Asami asked if she could fight too, but he said he only needed male fighters at the moment and that she was too pretty to fight."

"Yeah, that part kinda pissed me off, I can kick any guys ass, pretty or not." Asami pouted, Mako and Bolin laughed before Mako went on.

"Anyway, it turns out his wife designs clothing for those high class, 'society' ladies and she happened to be at the studio with him so he introduced Asami to her. When his wife saw Asami, she practically _raved_ that she was exactly what she wanted in a model and gave her a job immediately, our poor days are done!" Mako laughed again as the three hugged in relief and joy that the days of living on the street were gone.

Korra looked up at the three as tears of joy ran down their faces. From her spot on the floor looking up at them, the feeling of being at the end of the road with them kicked in. The man who ran the studio apparently didn't need female fighters so Korra couldn't fight with Bolin and Mako, and Korra was far too rough to be a model for high class society women and she knew it. The three people she loved so dearly were hugging in the doorway, and the second they stepped out of those doors of the dusty home again, Korra had a feeling they wouldn't have the time to look back on her sitting on the floor ever again. Korra could feel that the people she felt were her family were about to leave her. For the second time, her family would leave her.

"That's great you guys!" Korra smiled brightly, her voice sounded strange to her. The three looked over at her and calmed down recognizing that she must have been feeling left out.

Mako was the first to speak up, "I'm sure something will come up for you too so don't fee-"

"I'm really happy for you guys, I'll keep working hard as I have been until I find something better, so we'll all be moving forward." She smiled and hoped the tears she felt trying to claw their way out would stay at bay until she could get away from her friends. Her eyes zoned in on Mako and Asami's clasped hands before she turned and placed what was left of her donut on the table. "In fact, I'm gonna get to work right now, I'm gonna have to work harder if I'm gonna be able to keep up with all of you aren't I?" She laughed as she got to her feet. Shaking off the hands that tried to pull her back into the house, Korra made her way out of the door, turned to wave, and ran towards the city, with tears in her eyes and a need for a good fight to pull her mind away from the reality of being left behind.

Hours past and Korra was huddled in the corner of an alleyway that she had been in earlier. Fighting hadn't helped much to ease her worry, but it at least gave her the scuffs and bruises that were a good enough excuse for her to cry. Night had turned into the very early hours of morning and just as the street traffic had died down so had her tears and now she left in silence to think. Thoughts of how to make steady money filled her head as she wondered how she could earn her stay with the only people she felt were almost like family. She could let her crush on Mako go, she could see him with Asami everyday if only she didn't have to leave them all together, she loved all of them and being pushed away from them, was a painful thought.

She could secretly sell her body for money, but aside from the fact that she doubted anyone would buy, she also wasn't the kind of girl who could do that. At the realization that she really didn't have anything to offer the world, Korra's tears started fresh again. At some point, a steady thumping indicated a lone person walking down the street. Korra's thoughts weren't straight as she came to her feet and got to the end of the alleyway. She could see a man walking alone, head down and counting a stack of money. A dark laugh escaped Korra as she wondered how people could walk alone when it was dark, counting money in this neighborhood. _People like that deserve bad things to happen_. She didn't even agree with the thought entirely, it wasn't like her to agree, Korra wanted peace and justice even in an unjust world, but she still found herself pulling the knife out of her pocket and licking her lips anxiously.

_ I can't be serious, there's no way I'm doing this, I can't be…_ Her thought was cut short just as the man walked closer. He hadn't seen her, his head was still down face unseen, he had just passed her. Korra felt her hand tighten around the knife as she lunged out and grabbed him by the arm and yanked him roughly, pushing the edge of the knife to his back.

'_I-I… I'm this desperate?' _She asked herself as her shaking hand pushed a little against the sleek silkiness of his grey jacket.

"Give me your money, _now._" She could hear the words and she knew she was saying them, but the desperation and nervousness in them didn't sound like her at all. Shock surged through her as the man let out a slow chuckle.

"Times are hard little girl, I'm not good at sharing." He turned to face her, ignoring the knife and that's all it took for Korra's breath to catch in her throat. As he lifted his face, soft yellow street lights reveled the angry swirls of scar tissue that sprawled on his face and all the way down to his chest seemingly. She noticed his mouth was spared from the scarring as his lips pulled up into a soft yet menacing grin.

"You look very hungry." He looked over her. She was hungry, very hungry, aside from the donut, Korra hadn't eaten in days, but Korra was suddenly aware that to someone who could own a nice silk jacket, her dirt caked skin must have been utterly gross.

"J-just give me the money." Her hand shook as she lifted the knife to his face.

"Look young one," the man pushed the knife away from his face before smiling again, "You're too young for crime, if you're hungry and that's why you're doing this, I'll buy you a meal, just put the knife down, there's enough crime in this city. Korra stared dumbly before she felt the knife fall from her hand and clatter to the ground, echoing through the empty streets.

"Very good, now how about a cheese burger?" he asked and she nodded wholeheartedly as he looked her over, "Well maybe two." Korra felt a smile appear on her face, the last of her almost forgotten tears dripping from her eyelashes.

No one had called the cops to report what Korra had attempted to do, no one had even seen the exchange between them, but as Korra and this middle aged man strolled down the streets side by side, no one, not even the two of them had any idea of the turmoil and wars that would be started because of them.

**Okay so thanks for reading, (yes the man with scar tissue is Amon/Noatak) I wondered what would happen in a world with no bending, where Korra wasn't so fortunate, but still tried to keep the same values despite that and where Amon still wanted justice for the less fortunate… including Korra. Anyways I'm not sure where this is going, it's not strictly Amorra, it's gonna be a crazy ride based on where I kinda want this to go. Anyway, hope you enjoyed ^_^.**


	2. The loneliest number

Chapter 2

"Is it good?" The man was asking, amused expression worn on his face as Korra shoved the burger in her face barely chewing the food as she ingested it. She nodded eagerly before choking on a particularly large chunk of burger. "Slow down, no one's gonna take it from you." he chuckled, pushing her drink towards her.

After taking a series of large gulps from the glass Korra slowed down and actually allowed herself to chew and taste the food. Looking up to see the look on the odd man's face who bought her this food, she noticed he hadn't ordered anything but a drink and had only been watching her eat with an amused expression.

"You're not gonna eat?" She asked, tearing off another chunk of her food.

"You're the hungry one not me, eat as much as you please." Those words alone brought Korra back to reality. He had driven her to this dingy little dinner to buy her a burger, she had never been in this part of town, she didn't know this man and she was alone. For who considered herself street smart, she had just done a series of stupid things, but that's what hunger does, she supposed.

"Why are you being so nice?" She asked becoming suspicious of ill intentions on his part.

"I'm not into little girls like you if that's what you're thinking." he sat back and folded his hands on the blue plastic table.

"Doesn't mean you don't have a friend who is." she narrowed her eyes to make her point. That earned another bark of a laugh. At the sound of his laugh, the entire dinner went silent turned to look at the two in shock, just when Korra felt she'd die under their burning stares, they resumed what they had been doing before. Odd.

"You're a funny kid you know?" She continued staring at him through narrow eyes, not bothering to respond. "Growing up on the streets is not easy. This meal was paid for out of a whim, you have a fire in your eyes, I simply thought you'd make a good investment." he smiled slightly before sipping at his own drink, "The people in this town are to easily persuaded, you look like someone who will fight for what you believe in. This town needs more people like that, it would be a shame to let you die off so easily." Korra blinked, not sure what to say to that, so she changed the subject instead.

"What's your name?" She asked, pushing the now empty plate aside a pang of sadness hitting her that the tender burger was no more.

"I am Amon." He glanced at her empty plate before waving over a waiter and ordering another burger, "You still look hungry."

"It'll take more than one day of food to make me look less hungry ya' know?" Korra snorted, sipping at her drink again.

Amon chuckled just as his cell phone rung. Korra watched as he got up from the booth and went further off to talk. Korra took the chance to look around while she waited for her next burger to arrive. There weren't too many people and those who were there were kinda shady looking, even more so than the shady folks in her part of town, and that was saying something. The vibe in the place felt off, like some sort of illegal stuff might have been going on under the table. Though Korra had lived on the streets and had seen her share of illegal business go down, the vibe in this building was more like large organized criminals than the petty thievery, drug deals and occasional prostitution she saw around her neighborhood. Needless to say Korra began to feel a little anxious, well that was until the next burger arrived in front of her and her watering mouth silenced her nerves.

Amon came back from his call as Korra finished off her second burger. "Was it good?" he asked flashing her another smile. Korra nodded feeling more than full and wanting nothing more than to go to sleep. She yawned as wide as her mouth could stretch before leaning her head down on the table and looking up at him.

"So, umm thanks for the meal and stuff. I'm not really sure how to thank people. most people don't just go around doing things like this, so. Thanks." she offered a weak smile as a heavy feeling washed over her and her eyelids felt heavy.

Amon chuckled, "Just because I fed you doesn't mean I want to take you in as a pet, tell me where to drop you off." She heard all that he was saying, but she was already drifting off into a comfortable food induced coma. The first one she had in years.

'_Hmmm, so warm.' _ Korra was thinking as she dug herself deeper in the soft jasmine scented warmness that she felt wrapped around her dirty body. She was wondering why she was even smelling the lovely jasmine scent, anything she owned smelled like garbage, she wondered why she didn't feel the chilly fall air disk in through the holes in the building she lived in and give her the goosebumps she was used to getting around that time of year. '_There's no way I'm home.'_ Korra thought in alarm as she remembered falling asleep in that sketchy neighborhood with that weird Amon guy. She shot up, terror pulsing through her as she looked around and found herself in a bedroom, but calmed once she found that she was fully dressed and unharmed. Stuffed animal heads, a large television and little knick knacks decorated the room. An anxious feeling shot through her as she bolted rod straight before tumbling out of the bed and landing on the hard flooring with a loud thud. Rubbing her now aching backside, she got to her feet just as the door swung open and the marred face of Amon was there to greet her with an almost condescending smile that she was beginning to see was a trademark of his.

"Sleep well?" He asked, smirk still playing on his face.

"Where am I?" she asked groggily.

"It's my home, I wasn't quite sure where to take you after you fell asleep on the table. Leaving a child like you there when you might not have known the neighborhood seemed a bit cruel." Korra scoffed, a bit cruel? "Anyway, tell me where you need to go and I'll have someone drop you off. I have plans so I can't have you just mulling around my house." Korra blinked, he had taken her to his house out of kindness? What was up with him? He had no good reason to be nice to her and she knew it, the fact that he hadn't so much as touched her while she was asleep, earned him her trust, but she was still unsure about him.

"Uhm, well thanks. Again." she murmured shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "You can just drop me off around where you found me, I don't have any particular place to go at the moment." a dreadful feeling washed over Korra at the thought of having to go back to seeing Mako, Asami and Bolin when she knew that she had become the dead weight in the group.

"Very well then." If Amon noticed the moment of dread that washed over her, he chose to ignore it as he turned and pulled out his phone and called for a driver. Korra was left to wonder exactly what kind of man he was. Amon was clearly well off she could tell from the deeply coloured wooden furniture, the lavish feeling blankets on his bed and the way he dressed, but at the same time he seemed to want to help the poor. Korra figured he just felt bad for her since she was driven to the point of robbing for money, but no matter how ashamed she was of her actions, her pride wasn't taking well to the thought of being pitied.

"You know, you don't have to pity me, I know you said it was on a whim and I'm thankful for the meal, but I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." she piped up, folding her arms over her chest.

"And how old are you?" He asked, turning to her with mildly amused eyes.

"Seventeen." she replied with pride.

"Well indeed you are a big girl then, so why don't you look for a decent job instead of robbing people on the streets?" he smirked and Korra suddenly felt ridiculous standing there dirty, homeless and prideful.

"It's not something I'd ever done before, it's against my morals, so don't go thinking I'm a thief." her arms fell to her side and she slumped back leaning against the edge of the bed as she realized she truly was in no position to be as prideful as she wanted to be. She was lucky he didn't report her for attempted robert.

"Then why do it?" he asked blue eyes dancing from being in control of the situation. His voice was smooth and calm, probing for answers without seeming intrusive, wanting to make her talk despite the fact that she really didn't want to talk about it at all.

"I didn't have a choice, I was running out of options, let's just leave it at that." she sighed looking down at her feet. He didn't reply, but looked at her instead, sensing that he wasn't going to get any more from her on the subject and figuring not to push it. Korra took the moment of silence as a chance to look around for her shoes and jacket. Her moth attacked jacket was resting over a chair and her hole ridden shoes sat at the foot of the chair. Korra walked over and began to put her things on, trying her best to ignore Amon looking at her as she cringed in frustration as her little toe popped out of the hole on the side of her shoe. Winter was coming, she was going to have to fix all of those holes soon.

A sharp ringing sound pulled her from her thoughts as Amon's cell phone rung yet again. "The car is here, I'll have someone escort you out." She heard him open the door before shouting, "Lue, I need you to escort the young woman from yesterday out!" Amon called and even from the room Korra could hear his voice bouncing off the walls of the hallway and only then did she realize that he had a _big_ house.

"You called sir?" A thin man with an odd mustache appeared at the doorway next to Amon in seconds.

"Yes miss…" Amon paused and Korra suddenly remembered that she had never told her his name.

"Korra, my name is Korra."

"Ah, so please take miss Korra back to her part of town, please escort her out quickly, the guests will be arriving soon." Amon said as he gave this 'Lue' guy the street name of where he picked her up the night before. As he spoke, Korra caught onto the air of importance he possessed. He spoke with a manner than would make you listen, respect and respond, not oily like a politician, but still enough to make her hold onto a twinge of distrust even as he proved himself to be a fairly trust worthy man.

"Right away sir." The butler bowed at Amon before turning to Korra, not bothering to hide the disgust on his face as he looked over her dirty form, "I shall change the sheets and mop the floors when I come back, sir." Lue added as Amon laughed.

"Once the guests leave you can do as you please, but you can leave it for now." Amon replied.

"Very well sir, we shall be leaving then." Lue said as he motioned for Korra to head to the door. Amon gave her a brief bow of his head as she passed before turning and going in the opposite direction of herself and the butler.

Korra tried her best to keep up with the large, brisk strides that Lue made to the door as she gawked at the house. She was right about thinking the house was big before, the place was almost as enormous as it was luxurious.

High ceilings echoed the sound of her footsteps on the sparking white, marble tiled floor as they made their way down the hallway passing several doors that Korra wished she could have opened up and looked around in if only to ease the burning curiosity that was forming. Korra almost wished she could see the look on her own face as they made it to the end of the hallway and walked into the entrance. A huge chandelier hung over the middle of the floor, two sets of grand stairs met up leading to the second floor, the light pouring in from the door and two sets of stained glass windows that were at the front of the house made the floor sparkle even more than before. Korra froze in awe.

"I figure this is probably very amazing to a street urchin such as yourself, but you must get moving." Lue said annoyance edging into his voice.

"Sorry, Lue." She muttered as he ushered her out the door and into the awaiting car, which was just as luxurious as the house.

"It's Mr. Benit to you." Lue said before slamming the car door shut behind her.

"Lue Benit?" Korra chuckled to herself as Lue climbed into the front seat and pulled off, "You're name sounds like lieutenant, it's kinda funny cuz you seem like Amon's right hand man."

"Oh har har, like I haven't heard that from the rest of the staff before." Lue replied dryly. Korra pouted and gave up with trying to start a conversation with him as it clearly wasn't going anywhere fast.

The car zoomed down the street and Korra looked out the window at all of the white picket fences, perfectly trimmed lawns and smiling faces, realizing how far away from home she really was. After some time, the neighborhood changed, still an okay place, but more middle class, then a bit after they passed that and finally arrived in the grimy crime infested part of town that Korra called home.

"Thanks Lue, you don't have to get the door." Korra blurted as she saw him about to get out.

"I told you to call me-" Lue started, but Korra had already ducked out of the car and into the alleyway trying her best to avoid being seen with the fancy car and butler. The last thing Korra wanted was for people to start thinking she was affiliated with someone with money, that was a sure way to get mugged, or at least beat up.

Once Korra was far away from the car, she took her time, strolling off to where her home was. Though earlier she was nervous about coming back, she figured they'd probably been worried about her, that and the fact that they were the only family she had, was enough of a reason for Korra to suck up her pride and go back to the only people she knew cared about her. Korra marched in through the front door of the drafty house expecting to get a good scolding for staying out all night in their dangerous neighborhood, but was shocked to find the place empty. Naga, Bolin, Mako, Asami, all of them were gone, all of their things gone with them, hers left behind alone just as she was.

"Guys?" She called out waiting for them to jump out or something. "Come on guys, you don't have to hide, I didn't stay out all night doing anything bad if you guys are doing this to try and teach me a lesson." she called out, but there was no reply. "Guys?" she called again, looking around.

Korra huddled under the blanket, the only thing she owned as cold autumn air came in through the holes in the house as well as the holes in her clothes. "I can't believe they left me." Korra murmured, too stunned to have any emotion to put behind the words. "T-they were my family." she stuttered as the winds picked up. For the first time in so long, Korra hadn't felt hungry, but she could have dealt with hunger if only the feeling of loneliness that consumed her as she sat alone in the broken house, shivering from the cold would leave her.

Korra sighed and rested her head against the wall, "So they get jobs and forget me huh?" she murmured angrily, "I guess they couldn't wait to cut me loose." the feeling of betrayal that rose up pushed the feeling of loneliness aside just before both feelings dropped. "They might be out looking for me," she muttered. That seemed like a more logical thing, they wouldn't leave her behind so easily, she was important to them, they grew up together. Korra got to her feet with renewed hope in her friends as she bounded towards the door to go off and find her friends at their usual hangouts.

She dashed from their favorite hangouts to the places they knew would give them food every now and then, but everywhere she went she couldn't find them, and no one had seen them. By the end of the day, all Korra had to show for her effort was a day old apple muffin that the manager of a bakery she went to looking for her friends gave her upon seeing how flustered Korra looked. Korra sat on a bench feeling pretty down as she munched on her snack, watching the sky change to an orange hue as the sun set. "Where could they be?" She asked herself, feeling as worried as she was frustrated. Had someone attacked the house when she was gone? Had they really left her? Korra sighed as a paper skid across the ground and caught on her foot.

Korra picked up the paper and took her time to read it, suddenly thankful for all of the days she forced herself to go to the library and teach herself to read, she was the only one in the group that could do that, and it was the one thing she carried with unfiltered flyer had a man with a long mustache advertising his newly opened fighting gym in the city and then it hit Korra, they were all most likely there, it wasn't their fault if they had work to do over at their new job. With a laugh, Korra got to her feet and began running. The place was pretty far off in walking distance, since it was in the more middle class part of town, but she figured if she ran, she would make it there within the hour. Thanks to all of the fights Korra got into when she got a bit carried away with talking to people, her stamina and insurance were way up and despite the fact that she was sweaty and winded by the time she got to the place, she did manage to run the whole way without having to stop.

Korra jogged up to the building and leaned against a wall to catch her breath before heading in, but just before she could walk over, she heard the door swing open. For some odd reason, Korra jumped back into the shadows of an alleyway as if she had done something wrong. She felt stupid hiding for no reason and was about to step out of the shadows when she heard laughing. Peaking out around the corner, Korra could see Bolin laughing with the bearded man from the flyer as Mako and Asami laughed along holding each others hands as they did so. Asami was dressed in a pretty red dress that molded perfectly to her curves, while Mako and Bolin were both decked in fancy sparring clothes.

"They look so different after one day." Korra muttered to herself as she looked down at her own sweat stained, hole ridden dirty clothes before peaking out again in time to see Bolin, Mako and Asami all go sauntering off down the street as the bearded man went to lock the door of the gym. It was now or never Korra thought to herself as she rushed over to the man's side, flyer in hand.

"Uhm, excuse me." Her voice came out a bit smaller than intended.

"Yes?" the man asked turning to face her. His face twitched and Korra figured it was her smell. Running all the way out there didn't do much for her smell, especially when proper showers were a rare occurrence.

"Those people you were just talking to," she started anxiously, "Did they perhaps mention looking for anyone?" She asked. The man blinked. One time. Two times. Korra stared up, heart thumping loudly in hope that he would just give her the answer she wanted to here.

"No, they weren't looking for anyone as far as I know." he said thoughtfully. With that one sentence, Korra felt as if the ground beneath her had been stolen as her knees buckled in shock. Perhaps they hadn't asked the man about her? Maybe they were secretly looking for her? She knew she was grasping at straws now, but she didn't want to believe that they didn't care about her.

The man seemed to see her distress and quickly added, "But they just went to go eat, they'll be back later, you can talk to them there if you want, they're living here as of today, so their bound to come back if you want to wait." Korra could tell the man added that in hope it would be some condolence, but it was just more salt to the wound. They had left her _and_ the only place she knew to look for them. There was no straw left to grasp at. Korra had to face it; they didn't want her anymore.

"Nah, it's okay, I don't want to bother them while they're resting, maybe I'll come back again." Korra's voice caught as she spoke. "Thanks for the help." she tried to smile, but she was sure it came off as a grimace, before she turned and ran off.

"Do you need help?" She heard him ask as she turned to run, but she didn't reply, she just ran, she didn't cry, she just ran all the way back home until her feet ached so badly she felt tears leak out anyway. Wrapped under the ragged blanket, Korra dug her face in it, trying to ignore the stench as she sobbed herself to sleep, knowing that when she woke up, she'd have to push herself even further now that she was all alone.

**So, I'm gonna end this here for now, if I start adding more, this is gonna be a super long chapter xD Things are gonna start picking up a bit the next chapter I believe :) anyway, I couldn't help myself with the lieutenant, Lue Benit thing… Forgive my corniness, anyway, hope you liked the chapter ^_^**


	3. People, Politicians, Alleyway adventures

chapter 3

Sunlight poured in through the many holes from the broken house that Korra woke up alone in. She had cried herself to sleep the night before and decided to leave it at that, she wouldn't bother to spill another tear for people who didn't seem to even want her around anymore.

"Well time to start a new day." She sighed, pushing the rag of a blanket off of her and stretching. If she was going to be alone and live the way she wanted, thievery was no option, she was going to have to pour her heart and soul into finding a decent job, and that day would be the start of looking for one.

Eyes shinning brightly with hope, Korra left the house and went off to face the day. "Look out world, Korra is here to take you by storm!" She beamed before heading towards the city with her head held high. Unfortunately for Korra, it seemed as if the world had taken heed to her warning and had indeed been looking out for her and seemed hell bent to not let anything go her way. Bakeries, stores, small shops, big time businesses; not one of them wanted Korra to even take out their trash.

"Ugh!" Korra grunted slumping down on the sidewalk and shoving her chilly hands in her pockets. She had scoured the city and had yet to find anything, and she knew if she couldn't find anything in her area, the rich area _definitely_ wouldn't want her. "Why does everything have to be so freakin' difficult!" Korra yelled, tilting her face the the sky, not caring about all of the strange looks pedestrians gave her as they went where ever they were going. She was in the more middle class area of her city, so people paid more attention to the poor girl yelling in the streets than they would in her part of town. The strange looks Korra received reminded her that she was pretty far from home, but pretty close to where Asami, Mako and Bolin were. The urge to go see them, just one more time pulsed through her, but she ignored that feeling. If they wanted to find her, they could have, where did they think she would've gone anyway? They should've known that no matter what she would always, _always_ come back to them.

Korra shook her head and got to her feet before her thoughts had her crying again. "Guess, I should head back then." she murmured to herself as she began walking the hour long walk back to where she lived.

An hour later, Korra should have been home right? But something had caught her eye along the way in one of the stores she passed. It was a store she had passed the day before and thought nothing of until she peered in the window that day. A long flowing _beautiful_ sky blue dress with white embroidering decorated the collar of it, while a set of shining blue hair beads seat next to it in a case, instantly catching Korra's undivided attention. Korra wasn't one for dresses and her hair had become so matted that she wasn't even sure she'd have been able to get the hair beads on, but from the outside of that window, she allowed herself to day dream. She imagined the soft silky dress against her clean skin, hair parted in three smooth ponytails, the beads decorating ones near her face, the way she vaguely remembered her mother wearing her hair before she had passed away. In her mind, that dress had instantly become the symbol of a better life and she promised herself that the day she could afford it, that dress and those beads were gonna be hers, even if she never wore it, she wanted it.

"Something you like in the window?" A familiar voice pulled her from her day dreams as she spun around in shock and stood face to face with the bearded man that she recognized as the gym owner from the day before.

"Oh, uhm, n-no." Korra stammered, embarrassed to have been caught day dreaming.

"Ah, sorry to have startled you." the man laughed gently, "It's just that I recognized you from the other day. You seemed troubled then."

Korra cleared her throat before speaking, "Oh, it wasn't much of anything, I had just mistaken the people from yesterday as some old friends." It wasn't a _complete _lie, she had mistaken them for friends, when they seemed to be actively proving that they indeed were nothing of the sort.

The man nodded, not seeming to believe Korra, but still kind enough to pretend that he did, "Well is there something in this shop that you like? My wife, Pema, owns it and I'm sure she'd be thrilled to hear she's got a fan of her work."

That was oddly angering to Korra. There was no way this man could look at her dirty rag covered form and assume she had the money to afford anything in that store. "Don't look down on me!" she snapped pointing her thin dingy finger up at him, "Just cuz' I'm poor doesn't mean I'm a joke!" she was yelling, hands curling up into fists.

The man threw his arms up in surrender, "I wasn't trying to make fun of you at all, I was just curious if there was anything that caught your eye."

Korra gave him a wary glance before speaking again, "I'm not into pity gifts, whatever I get, I want to get it with my own hands," She glanced briefly at the dress and beads in the window, "Even if I showed you what I was admiring, I can't afford it and I don't really want a pity gift from you or anyone else." she sighed, trying not to let her irritation show anymore and letting it all but fade away.

The man gave her a small gentle smile, "You seem to be a strong willed girl, that's quite adirable at your age. You seem troubled though, I wish I could help you out, but I'd hate for you to feel as if you were being pitied."

Korra wasn't really sure what to say to that as she blinked up at the man, "Uh, well thanks." she said. It was better than nothing said at all.

"How about this, if you ever run into any troubles, you can come here or to the gym, I'll tell my wife your name so that she'll know." Korra stared up dumbfounded yet again as the man waited for her response. Though Korra really didn't want to go getting more and more random people involved in her life, she could;t help but think, if something happened to her, it would have been nice for someone to have noticed her missing. Nice to have someone to turn to if everything turned to shit, she figured before replying.

"M-my name is Korra." she muttered.

"And I am Tenzin. Very nice to meet you Korra." his voice was stern yet friendly, and just from that alone Korra figured he must have been a bit of a tight ass.

"Uhm, likewise." she murmured, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, "Well I was just headed back to my part of town so I guess I'll be go-" Korra's words were cut off by a woman holding a wad of fabric swinging the door of the shop open.

"Tenzin! You're here, we have to get going soon if we're going to be able to pick up the kids _and _go to the dinner." The woman was quite plain looking, with a motherly air about her that matched well with Tenzin's fatherly air. Hearing them talk about _family_ was like a knife in the gut as Korra stood there knowing she didn't have anything to go back to.

"Ah, yes, Pema." Tenzin replied stroking his beard as the woman named Pema looked curiously over at Korra.

"And who is this? Another fighter of yours?" Pema was asking, pity for the dirty girl before her etched on her face.

"Ah, her name is Korra, I believe she's a friend of some of my fighters." Tenzin gave her a knowing glance, and Korra scowled a bit at his assumption.

"I told you, they were people I _thought _were friends." She insisted.

"Well of course." he chuckled politely

"Why don't you join us for dinner?" Pema suddenly piped up, "We have a big family home, setting one more placemat is no big deal to us." She smiled so warmly that Korra almost said yes, the way she really wished she could, but looking down at her dirty clothing, she didn't feel right sitting in their home and dirtying things up, especially when she barely even knew these people. Korra politely shook her head 'no'.

"Thank you so much for your kind offer," she smiled the best she could at Pema, "and thank you for your help," she regarded Tenzin now, "but just offering me somewhere to go if I really need it is enough for me."

Tenzin and Pema looked at her with what seemed to be awe on their faces, as if they couldn't believe the independence and strength this young street girl possessed.

"Well then please feel free to come by anytime, we'll be glad to see you." Pema gave her another warm smile, gently placing her hand on Korra's shoulder. A soft smell wafted off of her, the smell of honey, home cooked food and clean clothing, a smell of a real home. Korra felt jealous that her children had such kind people as their parents. Unsure what to say, Korra smiled and waved before her resolve could weaken and she begged them to let her go with them.

With her mind set to not let anymore distractions get in her way, she made her way back home hoping that after the last three hectic days she had, that she would have been able to just get home, rest and start up her job search again tomorrow in hopes that her tenacity would pay off. A heavy sigh escaped her as she flung the front door open and collapsed in a tired heap under her blanket, mind reeling with thoughts. Her stomach was growling with hunger, but it was a feeling she was so used to that she had already learned to ignore it. Instead Korra let her mind swim from thought to thought as she waited for sleep to come over her. She had decided not to think of the people who recently left her, but instead of the people she had recently met. Pema and Tenzin seemed like such kind people, the fact that Mako, Bolin and Asami got to see them everyday made her a touch jealous, but the kind offer of help they had extended to her was more than enough for her at the time. The next person that came to mind was the odd fire scarred rich man, Amon, if she remembered correctly. With all of the things that had happened, she hadn't had time to even think about their odd encounter. Though Korra didn't feel he was a bad guy, he gave off a bit of an unsettling vibe. The way he spoke about how hard it must have been for her living on the streets, it sounded as if he almost _knew_ himself how difficult it was, as if his good deed was done because he wished someone would have done the same for him, but maybe Korra was just thinking too much into it. It was impossible for a man that insanely wealthy to have been poor, that kind of money couldn't have just been built up in one lifetime and the air he gave off was that of a well bred society man. No way he could've been poor.

Korra's mind drifted lazily as she felt herself falling asleep with one last burning question on her mind, '_But why was he all the way out here that night?'_

A month passed and Korra had visited every place in the city from the poorest part to the riches in hope for work, but all she had to show for it was a fever from walking out in the increasingly chilly weather. She hadn't seen Amon again and hadn't gone back to see Pema or Tenzin, even as she sat on the floor eating day old baked goods and imagining eating a home cooked meal at a table with them and their family, but it didn't seem right to take advantage of their kindness, even if they offered. Korra could figure it out on her own, she was a tough cookie, just like the ones the bakeries gave to her when they had left overs.

Korra awoke one cold evening with a terrible headache and a bit of a fever, most likely from hunger, or the cold, she couldn't have really been sure, but she shook it off knowing she needed some food, she had gone a bit too long without any at all. She stepped outside and sneezed as the air, laced with the smell of incoming winter, seeped into her clothing.

She traveled through the alleyways that she knew no one passed through to avoid trouble police trying to in force the curfew that no one cared about. Usually, she'd be able to find something behind one of the bakeries. Entire bags of stale goods waiting for the rats or street kids to take them, whichever fought off the other first.

Relief surged through her as she realized she was the first to get to the bakery and an entire bag of goods had been sitting there as if waiting for her to claim them. "Finally, _something_ is going right." She chuckled to herself as she picked up the bag and began to make her way through the alley and towards home.

The night had gone over pretty well, she may have been sick, but she had an entire bag of sweets to hold her over until they went bad, that was a major score. Korra was so caught up in her happiness from her find, she almost didn't see the man who stood before her in the alleyway.

"Oh sorry sir." she jumped upon seeing him.

"Ahh, oh it's okay.." he was muttering and hiding his face with his hands, Korra assumed he had taken some bad drugs or something so he was acting funny and began to walk around him when he grabbed her arm, "Please don't tell anyone you saw me here, it'll ruin my image!" he blurted.

"What are you doing?!" Korra yelled jerking her arm free. The man looked at her with shocked ice blue eyes.

"You mean you don't know me? You don't know who _I _am?" he pointed at himself clearly proud to be him. Korra squinted and looked closer at his face for anything that she would recognize. She had to admit he wasn't too bad looking for an old guy, but he didn't look familiar in the least bit.

"I'm pretty sure I don't know who you are." she wrinkled her nose at the smell of overpowering cologne he seemed to have bathed himself in. The man scoffed in disbelief before frowning.

"It must be because you're a street kid, but even so you should no who I am, I am Tarrlok, I'm bound to be in charge of this city soon." he smiled again, a creepy politician smile with too many teeth showing. Korra remembered seeing him before on a television in the window of a store, she didn't find his face too memorable at the time, but did remember hearing him and thinking he was a slimy politician. It indeed was a small world.

"Don't worry, I don't care enough about you or whatever your slimy campaign is." she snorted, rolling her eyes, "But why are you here?" She wasn't stupid, she knew that desperate 'society' people came to that part of town when they needed someone else to _disappear_.

"That is my business, just scurry back to your rat whole." he snorted folding his thick arms over his chest. For someone who didn't want to be noticed, he sure did a crappy job seeing as he was wearing his signature powder blue suit jacket.

"If people like you did more to help out people like me, I'd have a home instead of a rathole." she could hear people coming their way and saw Tarrlok go stiff with nerves.

"Fine, fine, I owe you one, just don't tell anyone you saw me and get the hell out of here!" he growled under his breath pushing her a bit. Though Korra wanted to argue a bit more, but the last thing she wanted to do was find out what business he had to come out there for, it was sure to be nothing good. Korra walked on briskly to get out of there before his friends saw her and scoffed mentally that he had the nerve to say he 'owed her one', she was more than sure he's be glad if he never saw or heard from her again and she would feel the same. She picked up her pace even more, at the thought of having shelter from the wind and a place to sit and eat her goods.

Korra pulled what was left of her ratty jacket close to her as the winds picked up. She was sneezing by the time she was closer to home, her fever had noticeably went up was making her feel a bit lightheaded. A cough shook her body and she leaned against the wall of an alleyway that she vaguely remembered had been where she hid when she almost robbed Amon a month ago. A weak feeling that Korra wasn't used to feeling came over her and she slid against the wall to the ground. She felt like she was dying, every breath burned her chest like hot coals. Before when she was living with Mako, Bolin and Asami, they took care of her if she had gotten sick but she hadn't seen them for a month and had been too busy going around looking for a job to even care until this very moment. Her thoughts drifted to Pema and Tenzin, they had offered to help her if she needed it, but they were an hour away, she didn't have it in her to make it there. Another hack racked her body as she tried to think of what to do, but her head was too fuzzy, she just wanted to go to sleep. She could hear a voice calling her and in her sick state she thought it must have been her father calling her, beckoning her to join him and her mother in heaven. A smile crossed her face, she was alone, she had lived a tough life, maybe dying and going to heaven didn't seem to bad, but anywhere was better than dying from a fever in the streets.

Korra felt her eyes flutter shut as the voice came closer and closer, she lifted her arms weakly towards the sky "Mom and dad, I can't wait to see you too." she murmured before her hands smacked back down to the sidewalk. A warm feeling came over her, the voice was closer than ever. Holding on to the joy of being in the end of her suffering, Korra closed her eyes and let herself slip into the sleep that had been beckoning her, content with the fact that she wouldn't wake up again. Or at least it seemed so at the time.

**A/n okay thanks for reading, there wasn't as much action in this chapter as I originally thought, but I wanted to take the time to introduce some other characters properly and you know set up the story some more and such, but I didn't want to make a huge chapter sooo I end here for now, I appreciate the reviews I have gotten and am glad that the people who have read so far seem to like it, the story should start getting a bit more… interesting from here on out to say the least :)**


	4. We meet again

chapter 4

Korra could feel her eyes flutter open and cringed as her head throbbed when she tried to move around. The pain surprised her, she always thought that little pains like headaches would have not happened anymore after death. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she sat up feeling parched and sweaty, shocked again that she felt this horrible in heaven.

She rasped out a chest splitting cough as she looked around not sure whether she was happy or disappointed to find hat she was still alive. The room was familiar, detergent scented sheets, mounted animal heads, little trinkets; Amon's room. Had her body not been so weak she would have bolted out of there, embarrassed of having ended up there two times now, but as tired and sick as she was, all she could do was flop back down, eyes half lidded and hack another cough.

"I see you're awake?" his voice came from the doorway, calm as usual. Korra opened her mouth to answer, but her voice was completely gone. He strolled into view, looking down at her as if assessing how sick she was. "I'll get someone to bring you something to eat." and with that he was gone. Korra was too tired to think, to tired to even _want_ the soup and drifted off back to sleep only to be woken again shortly after for a housekeeper to be fed the soup. How long she had been sick, Korra had no clue, she drifted hazily in and out of sleep days, only moving from the bed when the housekeepers helped her to the bathroom or when meals were brought to her. Days past and eventually Korra had overcome the worst part of the illness and was only left with an occasional sniffle along with an unsureness of how to thank Amon… again… for his help.

Sitting in bed one afternoon, slurping at the chicken noodle soup that was her lunch, Amon appeared in the doorway.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

"Yeah, much better, thanks," she couldn't even look at him from disappointment in herself that she had taken up so much of his time and money, not to mention the germs she left all over the place.

Amon 'hmmed' at her thanks before speaking again, "The staff will take you to the guest shower once you're done eating the soup, this room will have to be sanitized so until you're fully better you'll be staying on the upper floor." there was no emotion in his speech, but Korra's heart leaped at the thought of being able to be clean, she hadn't taken a _real_ shower with an actual tub and soap since she was a kid. Korra could feel a smile split her face as she ate the soup a bit faster excited by the thought of finally getting all of the caked on dirt off of her, Amon seemed to have taken notice her hurry to bathe, left with a mildly amused grin.

Korra finished her soup in record time and practically rushed the staff to show her to the bathroom.

"Would you like us to clean your hair ma'am?" The small woman who had escorted her to the bathroom asked in a voice just as small as she was.

"Uhh, no I think I'll be okay." Korra smiled again before closing the bathroom door and looking around. Just as she expected, the bathroom was as grand as the rest of his home. Several kinds of soaps were for the picking, large mirrors adorned the walls, forcing Korra to look at herself, and she was _not _ pleased with what she saw, more so than usual. Korra stuck her tongue out at her reflection feeling a bit grossed out herself at the dirty figure staring back at her.

The mirrors quickly forgotten, Korra shimmied out of her clothes and stepped into the shower, fumbling with the switches trying to figure out how to turn the darn thing on. The shower gurgled as she fiddled with a switch and then bone chilling water suddenly came rushing out of the shower head and splashing on Korra's skin. The water quickly warmed up and Korra prayed that no one had heard her shocked squeal.

Korra sighed as the water ran over her body. The water was working out all of the knots in her muscles and she watched as dirt and grime went swirling down the drain. Picking a plain bar of soap, Korra went to work scrubbing herself squeaky clean before looking around for shampoo with no avail. She scampered out of the shower and walked towards where she had seen an array of shampoos and conditioners before she had climbed in the shower. Scanning over the spicy, manly scented shampoos and conditioners, she sighed. Just because she was staying in a man's house didn't mean she had to smell like a man. Just as Korra was about to settle for the ' spotted a dustier bottle at the back, she spotted a dusty lavender scented bottle at the back and picked it up.

"He didn't really strike me as a lavender guy." Korra smirked to herself, trying to imagine the scarred and usually hard faced man walking around with the scent of lavender trailing after him. Korra shook the thought from her mind and hopped back into the shower to try and work the knots out of her hair, a task that was much easier said than done. Knots and tangles that Korra had ignored for years came back to haunt her as she tried to untangle and clean them properly. Her fingers got caught and tangled in the long mess of waist length hair and Korra was forced to leave it a tangled mess and leave it be, deciding it would be best to just cut it later on.

Stepping out of the shower, Korra grabbed a towel and savored the feeling of freshly washed towels on her clean skin, a feeling she had all but forgotten. The woman who walked her to the bathroom had been kind enough to have left Korra a robe to change into once she had finished showering.

It took only a few minutes for Korra to slip into the robe and out of the bathroom to meet the housekeeper who showed her to the bathroom earlier. Korra walked over and the woman looked at Korra in what seemed like composed surprise.

"Uhm, Miss Korra, your hair is still messy." the woman said, face still composed.

"Yeah, I know, It's too messed up to get the knots out. Can you help me cut the worst parts out if you're not too busy?" Korra asked

"I'd be happy to." the woman's face slipped into a warm smile as she led Korra back to the bathroom, "I'll be right back with some sheers to cut your hair." The woman announced as Korra entered the bathroom again. Korra nodded and watched the woman walk off before turning to look at herself in the mirror.

After a week of being sick and stuck in bed, Korra had really expected herself to look worse than how she did when she looked at herself in the mirror, in fact, she looked better currently than she had for months. Korra's blue eyes had a renewed gleam to them that hadn't been there for a long time, it was a wonder what a few days of regular meals and a shower could do.

At the sound of footsteps, Korra spun and saw the woman had returned with the shears. "How short would you like your hair, Miss Korra?" The woman was asking as she positioned herself behind Korra to get a good hair cutting angle.

"It doesn't matter, cut it as short as you have to to get the parts that can't be saved off." Korra responded. It was just hair, it would grow back.

Korra could feel the woman nod and then heard the shears struggle to snip through her matted hair. _Snip snip snip_. The sound had an almost melodic feel to it, and Korra was almost relaxed by the sound. The woman begun humming a soft yet emotional tune. The sour was sad but caring, Korra found herself thinking back to the family she once had and wondered if her mother would have cut her hair humming such a lovely tune as she gently cut her hair. Korra almost felt that she would nod off at the relaxing sounds, but then just as soon as she started the woman was done and so was the tune.

"Do you like it Miss Korra?" The woman asked, smiling behind Korra. Korra opened her eyes and looked at her reflection. Her hair was smooth again, cut a bit past her shoulder blades. About a foot of matted mess was on the floor once she was done.

"Yes, thank you." Korra turned to smile at the woman, "But if I can ask, what was the song you were humming, it was very nice."

The woman smiled sadly now as if an old wound had ached again. "That was a song I once sang to my daughter. Six years ago she passed. Caught up in some street violence, we weren't in the greatest neighborhood at the time…" the woman trailed off and looked up to Korra again and smiled, tears brimming in her eyes, "I'm sorry, I'm rambling. You need to get changed still."

"I lost my mother to the same thing." Korra said, ignoring the woman's attempted change of the topic, "My mother and father died in street violence, I know it can be hard, but we can still make a difference here. Even when we lose the people we love, we can fight so that no one else has to be hurt that way." Korra's voice rang out with such strength and determination that it surprised the woman and Korra herself.

"You are a very strong young lady." the woman held onto Korra's arm and looked up, not with sympathy for Korra's lost, but with the understanding that loss hurts and sympathy is not acceptable. The woman quickly let go and wiped the tears from her eyes before going on to show Korra to where she explained her clothes would be waiting for her.

When Korra had been told her clothes were waiting for her, she had expected to see her clothes cleaned and laid out for her to put back on, but that was not at all what she was given.

For the first time, Korra was led up the stairs and she tried her best not to marvel at the mind blowing paintings that hung on the walls. She was led down the hallway and into a room four doors down from the end of the hallway where a huge wooden hand carved door that Korra supposed led to Amon's room was. Korra had been staring at the Amon's door with great curiosity, so much curiosity in fact, that she didn't even notice the door open until the housekeeper called her for her attention.

"Miss Korra, would you please change quickly? I hate to rush you, but Sir Amon would like to speak with you." the woman went on, but Korra was gawking at the room.

The entire room was covered in every shade of blue that Korra had ever seen, from the carpet to the curtains and bed spread. The room was fairly bare as it was a guest room, but the grandness of the few things that did decorate the room was mind blowing to Korra, and the _view!_ Miles of vast picturesque land spanned out as far as she could see, all of it she figured, was Amon's land. It was almost a fact that Korra would have spent a good ten more minutes gawking at everything until her eyes fell on a set of clothing that had been laid out at the foot of the bed.

"These are for me?" Korra asked breathily, suddenly feeling as if she had entered a new universe.

"Indeed, please change quickly, Amon isn't always too patient." the woman said sweetly before bowing out of the room.

Now alone, Korra dashed over to the clothing to stare at the in wonder. Her hands ran over the silky blue fabric of the loose pants, ran her finger over the beading around the neck of the matching top. For a split second, Korra let herself get caught in the dreaminess of what it must have been like to live a rich life, but a quick glance at her bug bite scarred skin quickly reminded her that this was not her world, she would return these clothes the next chance she got… But for now… Korra shrugged the robe off as quickly as she could, put on the plain yet comfortable under clothing they left for her and put the clothing on, giddy at the feeling of such expensive clothing being worn by _her_. She would have never dreamed it. _'All dreams end Korra, don't get too happy.' _she just as quickly reminded herself as she straightened herself up.

The door thumped open and Korra jumped, but quickly settled herself upon seeing the maid.

"Oh! I'm sorry Miss Korra, I didn't mean to scare you, I should have knocked." she frowned, but Korra waved it off as nothing, "Anyway, I've come to fix up your hair and makeup, I thought you might like that." the woman said practically swallowing the rest of her words after seeing Korra's face scrunch up in a conflict of emotions. Looking down at the curling iron and makeup, Korra felt repulsed at the thought of having that gunk on her face, but at the same time curious. Could that stuff make her as pretty as Asami maybe? she was silently asking herself that as she nodded for the woman to start with the makeup and stuff. Ten minutes later and Korra could barely recognize herself. Her skin looked even and healthy, her hair had a life to it that had been lost for so long as the curls gleamed in the light. Korra blinked, stunned at the way the bronze eyeshadow had made her eyes sparkle.

"Quickly Miss Korra please go!" The woman urged Korra to the door smiling.

Korra practically barreled into the door in her rush to not make the person who was so kind to her have to wait. After quickly collecting herself, Korra nodded at the housekeeper who in turn knocked on the door.

"Enter." Amon called from the other side. The housekeeper swung the grand door open and Korra heard herself gasp in awe for what must have been the millionth time. Huge tapestries hang from the walls, an enormous bed was placed at the back of the room near two windows that rose to meet the ceiling. Korra snapped back to reality as she heard the door close behind her and saw Amon raise from the chair he had been sitting at near the desk at the far side of the room.

He looked over at her without a word before walking closer. Korra stared back unsure of what else to do.

"Well, you clean up nice." he said off handedly as he came in closer. Korra was about to reply when she saw him sniff the air once. Twice. He took a step closer to her, closing the small distance between them. He was so close that Korra's vision was filled with his chest and she was left insure what to do. "Do you smell that?" she vaguely heard him ask. His hand rose from his side and captured a lock of her hair, bringing it to his nose he inhaled deeply. "Lavender?" he whispered to himself. He looked as if he might have asked more about that until he looked down and saw Korra shifting uncomfortably from side to side, face as red as a tomato.

Korra was trying to put her gaze on anything in the room but him, embarrassed by her own reaction, it was the first time a guy that wasn't Mako or Bolin was that close to her, how else could she react?! Amon blinked before barking out a laugh that nearly scared Korra out of her skin.

"What the hell is so funny?" She demanded pulling herself together as he fell to pieces in laughter.

"You're just too amusing!" he chuckled leaning against the wall, "Have I not already told you that I have no interest in little girls?" he questions, flicking up where his left eyebrow should have been for emphasis. Korra huffed without an answer. "Don't get huffy, I have called you here for a reason." he went on, all business again.

"And why is that?" Korra challenged leaning against the door.

"I have another meeting today, but it seems as if you are just going to end up right back here if I put you out again, so this time, you'll be with me." he announced in a tone that implied that the matter wasn't up for discussion.

"Why can't I just stay in the room ,I just got better?" Korra didn't care what tone he used, she was going to speak her mind. Amon grinned before answering. "I have my reasons." he said, and in a bat of an eye, Amon had propelled himself from the wall, grabbed her roughly by the arm and was out of the door. They were halfway down the stairs before Korra could gain her common sense enough to argue, but by then the fight was pretty much over.

Korra sat seething in the back seat of the car that they were being driven around in, while Amon sat next to her paying no mind to her sour demeanor. They were going to the middle class part of town, Korra noted when the car stopped and the driver opened the doors for them to get out.

Amon began walking as Korra scampered behind him, "Where are we going exactly?" she asked practically jogging to keep up with his long strides. She really didn't want to be there, Mako, Bolin and Asami lived around there now and the last thing she wanted to do was see them.

"You'll see soon."

They didn't walk for too long until they came up on a large glass building, the fanciest one in this part of the city. Amon held the door open for Korra as she walked in. They entered a large waiting room and Korra immediately sat to wait for whomever they were going to be waiting for.

"What are you sitting for? We're going up." Amon said with his usual smug smirk as he motioned to the elevator. Korra jumped to her feet and followed after him again, all the while wondering where the hell they were going, but figuring it was probably more effective to wait and see rather than asking again.

The elevator went up to the top floor before they finally got off. Amon again was striding down the hallway, people were waving at him, smiling and he returned the favors. Korra's eyebrows were knit in confusion as they arrived in a large glass office that overlooked the entire city.

"I didn't want to have to bring you to work, but I forgot I was getting some work done on the house today. No one can be in the house while they're fixing it up." he said as he sat down at the glass desk in the large leather chair as Korra stared at him in shock as she tried to wrap her head around what seemed to be the situation.

"D-do you own this place?" Korra stammered as Amon shot her another slightly amused grin.

"Indeed I do. I am the president of this company. Korra was practically floored by then. This man who she met in the worst part of town, owned a place like this, had a house like the one he had _and_ still helped the less fortunate? Suspicion surged through Korra, but she pushed it to the back of her mind, but she still wondered why he bothered being nice to her. Who bought clothes as extravagant as the ones she was wearing, strictly out of pity for the less fortunate? He didn't seem like the saintly type in the least.

"What do you want from me?" she blurted without thinking, "I know I asked this before, but I really don't believe you're doing this for the reasons you said before anymore."

Amon's stony and scarred face tilted to look up at her with a seriousness she had not been expecting. "I told you already and my answer is still the same. You have a fire in you that this city is lacking." he turned to stand from the chair and strolled over to look out of the window, turning his back to Korra, "This city is full of followers, the leaders need to be left alive, they need to be strong so that this city can achieve equality and stay out of the hands of scumbag politicians only looking out for the rich." Though Korra couldn't see his face, she could hear the anger in his voice as he spoke of the politicians. Korra swallowed the questions burning at the back of her mind, feeling that it wasn't the time.

Amon turned from the window to face Korra again, face composed yet again, "I think you of all people know whatI mean when I say this city needs some equality."

For a second Korra paused to think. He was right. Korra could think of a million situations of when she had been overlooked or put down for just being poor and laughed at by the more fortunate. It stung to remember, but poverty was all she knew. Looking down at the fantastic clothing she had been wearing, the fancy office she stood in, the justice seeking well dressed man who gave her that opportunity. The walls that seconds ago once looked so grand felt as if they were closing in on her, the clothes she admired felt as if they were choking her, and the man's gaze that was seemingly looking out for her burned her. "E-excuse me." Korra blurted, turning and fumbling to open the door. Behind her, she heard Amon moving to catch up with her, but the overwhelming need to get out of there sent Korra _flying_ down the hallways as if hell was on her heels. Korra didn't stop running until she was out of the building, gulping in large gasps of the fresh air.

_ 'I'm a street kid, I can't get used to being treated nicely, I can't allow myself to get used to a rich lifestyle, he's going to get rid of me soon anyway.' _Korra reminded herself as she caught her breath. The change was so sudden and she was so distracted by the wonder of it all that the confusion of it all was lost on her. It was too disorienting.

Korra's head was still spinning when she heard her name being called by two different directions. Still confused, Korra spun around and spotted Amon emerging from the door looking slightly rumpled as if he'd run after her. He smiled gently at her as if she was a frightened animal that was needing to be coaxed from a hiding place. He was walking closer, but Korra could hear her name being called behind her still. Turning to see who else could have been calling her, Korra froze where she stood upon seeing who it was.

Pema, Tenzin, Mako, Bolin, Asami and some guy with weird swirly hair stood in front of her.

"Korra where the hell have you been?!" Bolin wailed running over and latching onto her. Mako and Asami ran over, wordlessly hugging her as she stood as still as granite.

"I thought you didn't know them." Tenzin chuckled as he walked closer with Pema and the other guy. Pema smiled warmly, and the other guy huffed as if he were too good to bee seen with her.

"Do you know them, Miss Korra?" Korra could feel Amon speaking behind her, but she was still in shock from everything happening. Korra nodded dumbly without turing to face him. Mako, Bolin and Asami let go to stare up at the man with awe, even Pema, Tenzin and the other guy, looked a bit shocked to see Korra knew Amon.

"_You_ know Amon?" Asami stammered in a manner that wasn't much like her at all.

Reality came back to Korra and she snapped out of her daze. "How do _you _know him?" she asked, perplexed.

Tenzin stepped up then, "_Everyone_ knows Amon, he does so much for our community." he said clearly humbled. Korra blinked in confusion as she watched Amon go to greet them with a fake smile plastered to his mangled face.

"Y-you guys left me." Korra mumbled as they were still going through pleasantries, "You three all left me! I leave for a day and you leave me and now you have the nerve to act as if you cared about my absence?!" Korra was suddenly yelling. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at Korra. Mako, Bolin and Asami with sadness, everyone else with confusion at why Korra was on the verge of tears and what she was even talking about. "It wasn't like that Korra!" Bolin cried reaching for her, but she shook his hands off, and threw them a venoms glare.

"Well it sure as hell seems like that's exactly how it was!" she cried and felt a fat tear drip down her face. She could feel herself about to start bawling in the middle of the city in front of Amon's building no matter how much she didn't want to do so. A warm, comforting hand came down like a blanket over her shoulder as she dropped her head so that no one could see her face.

"Why don't we talk about this later?" Amon was saying, "You can all come over to my estate for dinner tonight." he went on before telling them the address. Everyone agreed and they walked away, leaving Korra and Amon standing in front of the building.

"Thanks, I needed time to get my thoughts together." she sighed, doing her best to wipe her tears. Her makeup that the housekeeper had worked out was ruined now...

"No problem." he said turning and walking her back into the building. His hand was still on Korra's shoulder, and though Korra had half a mind to shrug it off, she couldn't get herself to do it, finding it too comforting. She needed that at the moment, and he seemed to know that as they walked to the building and back to his office, where he finally removed his hand, sat at his desk and went to work. Korra sat silently by the window, the sound of Amon's typing in the background as she tried to think of whether she should try and talk out the problems with the dinner guests or stab them with the utensils the way something in her was burning to do.

**Okay I'll end this here, it's a good a place as any to end. Don't really know what to say about this chapter, but I know people were getting curious about what happened with Bolin, Mako and Asami, we shall find out soon ^_^ Hope you guys liked the chapter, Please review, and for everyone who has reviewed already, I thank you very much for the feedback, it really helps when I go to write the next chapter :) **


	5. I remember you!

chapter 5

**A/n You guys who are following the story so closely, thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to read my work, you guys are the best ^_^ Anyway, chapter 5 time:**

There was a heavy and uncomfortable atmosphere looming in the room, no one spoke as the dessert plates were placed in front of them by the staff of the house. Amon sat at the head of the table, with Korra to his right with Pema, Tenzin and their rambunctious children to the right of Korra. Mako, Asami and Bolin all sat to the left of Amon, he didn't miss the way Korra was glaring at them as she violently stabbed her slice of cake. Throughout most of the meal she had been blindly stabbing her food while glaring at them, as they squirmed under her gaze.

"So." Amon said, breaking the silence, "What do you guys do for a living?" Pema and Tenzin smiled at the opportunity to end this awkwardness that everyone but Korra, who was too busy being angry, seemed to feel.

"I own a small martial arts studio. There are only a few fighters, but they're the cream of the crop. Bolin and Mako work with me." Tenzin began.

"And I own a small boutique selling fine clothes, Asami is one of my models. I actually met Korra there, she seemed to see something she liked, but she didn't want us to just give her whatever it was. She's independent and strong like that I guess." Pema laughed lightly. Amon's eyes flickered to Korra wondering _what _indeed she would have wanted as fine clothes didn't really seem her style, but she was still occupied at glaring at the three teens across from her.

"Korra is a very strong girl, she wouldn't even accept our offer to live with us for a bit, it's a miracle you even managed to get her to stay here so long." Tenzin chuckled.

"The situation didn't give her very much of a choice, she was unconscious on the streets. I had met her before and she didn't seem to have it in her to be a theif so bringing her here didn't make me feel too uncomfortable." Amon said calmly. All of the eyes in the room but Korra's fell on him with a mix of suspicion that either he was into little girls or he was just a true stand up guy.

"Yeah, he's nice that's been established a thousand times already." Korra murmured, "But enough with the small talk, we know why we're all really here. Why the hell did you leave me? I thought we were a team!" she sprung from her seat and was pointing at the people in question.

"Shall we have our dessert in the study then?" Amon offered standing seconds after Korra did. Tenzin nodded and he and his family left the room leaving Korra to talk to the people she once trusted.

"We told you it wasn't like that Korra." Asami pleaded, looking up sadly at Korra.

"Well then how come after I left for a day, you guys were gone and I'm being told that you were staying with Tenzin? I couldn't even bare to talk to you after that, I just watched you all walk off laughing, and then went home to the only place I know as home. Alone!"

"We did look for you Korra, we really did!" Bolin cried.

"Am I so hard to find? Is it so hard to find me when I went on living in the same house." Korra was shrieking now, somehow succeeding in holding back her tears.

"You weren't _ever_ there when we looked and we went every single day to see if you had come back!" Mako yelled back, getting to his feet. "We asked around town, but no one we knew had seen you around, you don't even know how damn worried we were about you! Now we find out you were here living in the lap of luxury? You should have come talked to us if you knew where we were!" He was walking closer, voice going up in volume, but Korra held her ground. She never thought that they looked at the house for her, then again, she had been all over the city looking for a job. When she thought of it that way, it was kinda obvious why they couldn't find her.

"How could I have faced you? You guys were just _gone_. The next time I saw you, Tenzin was telling me that you were all living in the attic of that building he owns. You guys were laughing together as if I didn't matter at all, how could I just go say 'hey' as if nothing happened?" she felt her voice catch, "I couldn't have known you guys were looking for me." she sobbed.

Mako placed one hand on each of her shoulders and sighed, looking down at her with a worries expression, "Amon said he found you _passed out_ on the _streets_. A month was too long…" his voice was cracking too.

Bolin and Asami walked over, "We should have been with you always Korra, we're so sorry, it's our faults you got sick." Asami sobbed as she took Korra's hand.

"We had a match so soon and we didn't know what else to do but move in, we had to move in and train constantly, and we didn't want to just leave Asami behind, we thought we could come back the very next day and find you there, but we couldn't find you Korra! We couldn't!" Bolin sniffled. The four pulled her into a group hug and she felt the tears she was holding back slip. They were all crying, from relief that they were all safe. That they were all together again. That they could get through that bump in the road. The tears they shed were the tears of bitter street children who knew nothing but the street and never truly trusted anyone but each other. Tears like that were impossible to fake. They really had been looking for her. The relief that Korra felt from knowing they hadn't just left her behind was almost overwhelming as they stood there all hugging as if they were all each others life lines. They stood like that silently just enjoying the feeling of all being together again for who knows how long, when Pema walked into the room, holding her sleeping son, Meelo in her arms.

"We have to go soon you guys, I don't know how long he'll stay asleep and I don't want to have to chase him throughout the house and catch him just to get him to leave." Pema whispered, smiling at the group.

"Okay." Korra whispered back.

"Amon is a really nice man, you are lucky to have met him." Pema smiled again and Korra smiled back knowing it was true. She'd have been in jail if it hadn't been him she tried to rob, and she would have been dead if he hadn't found her on the street. She still wasn't even sure how to begin thanking him.

"You guys take care, I'll drop by and visit once I find a job." Korra smiled turning to her friends.

"Why not just live here?" Bolin asked, "it's soooo _posh!_" Korra snorted with amusement.

"I don't take things I didn't earn."

"Same old Korra, glad that hasn't changed." Mako smiled patting her shoulder, "Well we'll see you later, we should really go before Meelo wakes up, he's a handful." Mako laughed as he took Asami's hand and strolled out with Bolin shortly behind. Korra waved goodbye as she tried to figure out which stung more; seeing them leave after they had been apart so long, or Mako and Asami holding hands. She was almost shocked that seeing them together still elicited a feeling from her. After they left her, she thought she would be over it. Guess not.

"That was nice." Amon called from the second entrance of the dining room behind her. Korra jumped before turning and smiling.

"Y-yeah, it was. Thanks for inviting them over, I probably would have freaked out if we talked about it earlier, you've done a lot for me." she gave him a sheepish smile.

"It's not a problem."

"It is, I don't want to be anymore of a hassle than I have been." Korra sighed heavily, "So I'll leave tomorrow, I'll try to stay out of trouble this time." she snickered, but was almost surprised to see that he didn't laugh back as he usually did.

"You've just recently gotten better, what's the rush?" his voice was so serious it startled her.

"I just don't want to be living off of your wealth. This good fortune, I haven't earned." she smiled weakly as she indicated to the grandness of the house.

"Winter just started and for the sake of your morals you want to go and live in the streets like that?" he was asking half angry and half in disbelief.

"I've done it before." Korra shrugged. She had done it before. 12 years in a row she had done it to be more exact. "I can't just live here, I haven't earned it."

Amon sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Tell you what, I'll give you a job as a maid, you work here for your stay at least until spring when it's warmer and the thought of me running into you again dead from frostbite on the side of the road won't weigh so heavily on my mind."

It was a pretty good offer and at this rate it did seem like he found her when she was on the verge of death. Avoiding death and meeting him like that again was too good to turn down. "Sure." she smiled and Amon left out another frustrated sigh.

"I've helped people before, but you are hands down the most _difficult_ person to help that I've even met." his chuckle was softer and more genuine than the ones he usually belted out. Korra couldn't help but laugh as well. She was tired, her head was slightly stuffy from the remnants of her illness as well as from crying, but her heart felt so light, that laughing just felt so good. Pulling out a chair she sat down, in an effort to keep the dizzy feeling from taking over.

"I see you made up with your friends, I saw your farewell." Amon went on. He walked and sat at the table across from her and stared intently at her, "I was wondering why you seemed to be having such a hard time on your own when I ran into you. I guess the incident with them was the reason?" Korra blinked at him, perplexed. It was the first time he had so blatantly fished for information about her. Korra usually tried to keep her business private, but he did give her the opportunity to find peace with the situation, an explanation wasn't too much to ask.

"They were the only people I ever knew to be family. I grew up with them, they were my world, when I thought they had just left me…. it hurt." she sighed, pushing back the sleepy feeling washing over her, "I didn't know how to deal with being alone. I was reckless and pushed my body too far, I ended up getting sick. Thanks again for saving me." she offered a weak grin and he nodded.

"You seemed to have faced a lot of hardships in your life Miss Korra. In one way, it's no wonder you're independent, but it's astonishing that you have such strong morals considering how much easier it would be for you to just steal what you wanted. Easier to just accept help."

Korra shrugged, "Sure stealing is easier, but then I'd be hurting the livelihood of someone just as poor as me. It's not worth it, I'd rather suffer alone. As for accepting help, I know it sounds dumb, but I really want to earn a living with my own hands and have all of the things I could never have before." a dreamy smile came over her as she dreamed of having all of the things she ever wanted, a home, a family, safety. All of her wants were simple, all of them obtainable if she worked hard. Amon

was staring at her, with a look that Korra's tired brain couldn't figure out. A huge yawn split Korra's face as she got to her feet.

"Thanks Amon, I doubted you a few times here and there, but you're a good guy." She threw him another tired smile, "Goodnight _sir _Amon." she tried her best to imitate Lue as she spoke, which earned her another chuckle from him.

"Goodnight Miss Korra, sleep well." he replied, and with that Korra left.

And sleep well Korra did. She slept like a log, not waking for anything, not even the maid who tried to wake her and tell her that it was time for her to begin training. Korra vaguely remembered pushing the woman's hands off asking for five more minutes. The maid started to argue, but then she heard a male voice further off telling the maid that Amon instructed all staff to let Korra rest as she had a busy day the day before.

"I'm up!" Korra yelled, leaping out of the bed upon hearing that Amon was yet again about to let her get the easy way out. Not today.

"Oh well look if the sleeping beauty hasn't awakened." It turned out that the male voice was Lue and he stood in the doorway as smug as ever looking down at her in disgust even thought she was all cleaned up now.

"I'm awake, so teach me what I need to know!" Korra beamed up at the woman who she recognized as the same woman who helped her with her hair and makeup the ay before.

The woman smiled back just as kindly and warmly as Korra remembered. There was something comforting about her that Korra couldn't put her finger on. "The maid uniform is on the dresser, please come downstairs and find me once you are done changing Miss Korra. I will wait in the kitchen.

Korra gave a small salute, which the woman grinned at, but Lue scoffed at and then they both walked off, closing the door behind them. After slipping into her clothes in record time and racing down the stairs, Korra stood in front of her new mentor panting, but eager to begin work. They went through the rundown of how to clean, dust, sweep, polish in scrub everything in the house, all of which had to be done with extreme care as everything in the house was handmade and _highly_ valuable. Korra had never been so tired from cleaning in all of her _life_ but the satisfied feeling of doing the job well made up for it. Nina, the name of the maid, was impressed by how quickly Korra picked up on everything and the two enjoyed each other's company as they cleaned, which made the time fly by.

Nina and Korra had just been finishing up sweeping the floors in the entranceway, when the door swung open and Amon stepped in, finally back from work. He looked tired as if it had been a long day.

"Hey." Korra smiled at him as he looked over to them with a tired expression.

"Hello, sir." Nina said bowing upon seeing him. Korra glanced over to Nina's wave and tried to turn the wave hello she was about to do into a sweeping bow. Amon spat out a hard laugh that made Nina jump, but Korra smirked. Okay so she knew she did some ridiculous and embarrassing things at times, but he really found a way to highlight the moment every time by bursting out in that deep throaty laughter, but something about seeing someone who seemed so serious laugh, made her smile too. Then again, he never seemed too serious around her, but she could tell by the way others treated and respected him as well as the stunning cleanliness of the house and professionalism of the staff (minus Lue, he was just happy to be head butler) that Amon was as much of a hard ass as anyone could be, but she hadn't really seen that side of him a lot. He was usually to busy giving her amused glances as she did things that he must have considered odd or foreign.

"Hello, Nina, hello Miss Korra." he said, scarred face settling into a light smile.

"I've been getting the hang of this cleaning stuff, you can ask Nina, you won't regret keeping me as a maid." she beamed, proud to be good at something. Proud to be useful.

"The house is shinning brighter than usual." he smirked before turning to Nina, "I have a meeting to go to soon, I'm use going to shower and change and then I'll be going out, so please tell Lue and the rest of the staff that preparing dinner isn't needed." Amon sighed tiredly as he headed for the stairs.

"Yes Sir." Nina bowed.

"Meeting? But you just got home. Do you always work so much?" Nina was about to reach out and grab Korra's arm pulling her back before her questions could anger Amon, but to her surprise, Amon answered with an almost amused expression.

"Only lately. Lot's of politicians have been trying to get in with me since they know I try and help the community. It's come down to helping me in hopes that being seen often with me will help gain the common people's trust." Amon scoffed in disgust of the politician's tactics.

"Politicians are gross, they won't do anything to help the people. Hanging around you won't gain the trust of the people. The poor know that those scumbags are only looking out for themselves." Korra replied face twisting in unfiltered anger. She hated seeing those politicians saying they were going to make a change, visiting hospitals and kissing babies not caring whether the street kid they talked to on camera in order to look like a caring person, dies the next day. Back when Korra was still a kid, she would see them on televisions in the windows of stores and hope they would make the changes they promised, but after years of hoping, she saw it was all a scam.

"My thoughts exactly, no one else at the meetings feel that way, just a bunch of stuffy, self serving old geezers." Amon chuckled before pausing at the end of the staircase and turning to face Korra. "Would it bother you terribly to attend this dinner with me? It would be nice to know there's one person at least that wasn't groveling for my good graces. It's agitating being surrounded by so many fakes."

Korra and Amon seemed to miss the sharp intake of air that Nina sucked in. Amon _never_ took people to events… He also never smiled so much after work. Nina looked over at Korra agin. The same way Korra managed to get Nina's trust enough to talk about the loss of her daughter, Korra seemed to have done the same to get Amon's trust. Nina could feel it; Korra was a very special girl.

"Uh, I know my grace and maturity make me seem older than I am," Korra chuckled, "But you'd still be showing up with a kid, don't you think they'd find that weird."

Amon shrugged, "I'd introduce you as my intern. What's so odd? If you'd rather not than you can stay home, it's no bi-"

"No!" Korra blurted cutting him off. "I wanna go!" If he would rather her go with him, than she would go. He saved her _life_ a little dinner party wasn't too big of a deal. Right?

"Are you sure?" Amon asked, flesh above his eye crinkling in curiosity.

"Of course! It sounds fun!" Korra smiled.

An hour and a half later, Korra was all dressed up and sitting at a table with a bunch of old rich guys whose eyes were either begging for Amon's praise or ogling her chest. She was wrong. This was no fun at all. Korra let out a small sigh and went back to eating her lobster. Okay so the event was boring and the company sucked for the most part, but the food was _divine._ Korra closed her eyes and focused her thoughts on the buttery fresh seafood taste that spread over her tastebuds but then something pulled her out of her little happy bubble.

"Amon!" A familiar voice called. A man with a powder blue coat and three long braids going down his back appeared. He walked over to the table, looking only at Amon and shook his hand.

"Oh, it's you." Korra murmured before sipping her drink.

"I'm sorry, I was talking to Amon, I don't believe I know you." he turned to look over at Korra, frown turning to a slight grin. "But I'd like to get to know you." he smiled and took Korra's free hand bringing it towards his lips to kiss it.

Amon watched the scene cooly, "She's seventeen." he said before pulling his glass to his lips.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh." Tarrlok muttered turning the almost kiss on the hand into a firm handshake, "Nice to meet you Miss." Korra stifled the laughter that was bubbling inside of her. Tarrlok hadn't even recognized her from the streets.

"It's actually the second time we've met." Korra smirked giving Tarrlok a sly smirk. It made him squirm in a way that she hadn't meant to do. Sure she was seventeen, but she was _so_ his type. His eyes roamed over the little black dress she was wearing.

"_You've_ met him before?" One of the men at the table was asking. Amon went on sipping cooly at his drink, but his eyes flickered over with interest.

"Oh yes, we had such a _interesting_ conversation. I stumbled into him in my home town, on a back street." Korra could see Tarrlok racking his brain for where he may have seen her. He hadn't slept with any 17 year olds… well… that he knew of, not that he usually inquired, but hey he never thought he'd meet them again. Still, she did look _kinda_ familiar.

"It must have been about a month ago." Korra went on. Tarrlok tried to think of any girls he hooked up with the month before, but still couldn't remember seeing her squirming under him in pleasure. Who the hell was she? Those blue eyes were burning his memory. "He seemed to be meeting some friends, but he didn't seem too happy for someone meeting friends, he seemed really _nervous_." Korra smiled a borderline wicked smile as she watched Tarrlok's face turn three different colours at once as realization hit him. _She_ was the girl from the alley? That ravishing girl was the same girl he had pretty much told to piss off in the alley? Damn, he would've taken her in as an intern too if he knew she'd look like that under all that dirt and grime.

"_Ohhh!_" Tarrlok smiled, face pulling into a politician smile, "You were asking me about business tips and I couldn't help you since I was busy." The men at the table all seemed to buy his lie. Well all of them but Amon who was eyeing Tarrlok suspiciously. "I have time now we don't we go talk." The words came out so fast and he moved to drag her from her chair so quickly that Korra couldn't even think to protest.

"What do you want from me?" Tarrlok was asking as soon as they were out on in the empty hallway. His demeanor was much more calm and cool than she had expected. Calm under fire politics style, "Money, men, a house on a hill, you name it you got it. I told you I owed you one." he was standing so close Korra could feel the warmth of his breath.

"Well aren't you eager to get rid of me?" Korra smirked leaning back against the wall. "I don't want _any_ of that."

"Don't play coy, just name the price, any price." he went on, pulling a checkbook from his pocket.

"I don't want it. Really." Korra smiled as his hands curled into fists. She could see he was losing his temper. "I'll save the favor for a rainy day." she smiled sweetly. He felt a pang, he was upset with her, but the way those lips puled into a smile… _Dammit_ that's not was he was supposed to be thinking! He took a step closer, anger pulsing through him at the cockiness of this girl. He could smell of her new vanilla shampoo drifting off of her hair as she glared up just as frustrated. They were so close than Tarrlok glared back confused to whether he was going to kiss her or scream in her face.

"Korra, the dinner is almost over, do you want to stay for desert or would you like to leave." Korra turned immediately, anger dissipating upon seeing Amon staring as cooly as ever in near the door.

"Let's leave, this place has some _tasteless _people I'd rather not associate with." she said throwing Tarrlok one last nasty glare before walking over to Amon.

"Go on out to the limo, Lue will be waiting for you there, I'll be out soon, I just had a bit of business to discuss with Tarrlok here." Amon gave her a small grin and Korra nodded, walking off to do as he instructed.

Tarrlok and Amon remained in the hallway, both wordlessly staring at each other. "Well she's a firecracker. Must be hard to deal with an intern like that. Is that what we call bed buddies these days? Interns?" Tarrlok smirked breaking the silence.

"She's not a 'bed buddy' Tarrlok." Amon sighed, "She works for me as a maid, I'm guessing you saw how she lived before that. You were in her old neighborhood? What for?" he was pressing for questions, but Tarrlok only smiled.

"There was a bit of unfinished business I had to take care of."

"Dammit Tarrlok! Think of your damn image, you can't go doing shit like that and keep from getting caught!" Amon flew into a rage, but kept his voice at an angry whisper to keep people from coming to find out what was going on.

"Uh, Sorry. She was the only person who saw me, she said she didn't care enough to tell." Tarrlok frowned, flinching at the rage in Amon's voice.

Amon sighed again, pushing his hair back with his hand, "It is what it is. Just stay away from her okay? Provoking her might have her tell on you. She has strong morals."

"Oh, that's why you want me to stay away?" Tarrlok asked with a challenging grin. That caught Amon by surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"She's _quite_ attractive and seems your type. You even bought her to this business dinner, you've _never_ mixed anything with business. _Ever_. Intern huh? Maid huh?" Tarrlok scoffed, "Yeah right."

"She's _seventeen_ that's not only sick, but it's illegal."

"That's what your brain is telling you." Tarrlok could feel himself about to work Amon into a mental corner, but was shocked when he saw Amon smile instead.

"I'm not into little girls, but I do have my reasons for keeping her around." Amon smirked at the way Tarrlok looked so confused by his response. He wouldn't tell him that the biggest part of the reason he kept her around was because it seemed like every time he did he ended up finding her in some desperate situation and it was just easier to keep her there than to have to haul her to his home. Tarrlok didn't need details.

"Riiight." Amon sighed, seeing that Tarrlok had his mind set on whatever he wanted to believe, "Too bad though." Tarlok went on, "We never had a chance to really play with toys as kids, but I have a feeling that this will somehow end up proving, that brothers really aren't good at sharing their toys."

"That's the problem with politicians," Amon scoffed turning to walk away, "You treat people like toys, but they're people." Tarrlok went silent. There wasn't much to say to that.

Amon was at the door when Tarrlok called out for him again.

"Hey, thanks for looking out for me, even if we are on two sides of the playing field."

"Only because we're brothers." Amon called over his shoulder before leaving Tarrlok in the hallway alone and going to meet Korra by the limo.

"What took you so long?" Korra asked the second he sat down in the limo.

"Tarrlok is a nosey bastard." Amon replied. Korra nodded with with understanding. That he was. Satisfied with his answer, Korra watched the night lights of the city zoom by the window as Amon did the same on the other side, fully immersed in his own thoughts. The look of Tarrlok's eyes on Korra made his skin crawl, how could he look at a kid like Korra and find her attractive? Out of mild curiosity, Amon glanced over at Korra and tried to see what the guys at the dinner party saw. So sure she was curvy, sure her eyes twinkled when she laughed or when she was proud, sure her full lips looked soft, sure her brown skin looked as if it was as smooth as the silk fabric he loved to feel against his skin…. what was he thinking about again? Oh yeah! Those old men were sick, maybe she was attractive if you thought about it, but she was still a little girl. No matter how prideful she tried to be, how independent she was, she was still a child with much to learn, didn't they see that.

Amon's eyes were still on her as he watched as Korra slumped back tiredly against the seat before drifting off. Amon figured it was best to let her rest as it was a bit of a ride home. Her head lulled from side to side before plopping on his shoulder to his immense surprise. He tried shoving her over to her side, but the car shifted her right back over to him. In a frustrated effort to put her upright, Amon considered waking her, but then she shifted, snuggling her face against his shoulder.

"Soft." she hummed in her sleep. The soft sent of the vanilla shampoo Nina had given her than morning drifted to Amon's nose and he resisted the insane urge of something in him to bury his nose into her hair.

"Little girls are so troublesome." Amon sighed, turning to face the window again, yet he allowed Korra to stay leaning against him the rest of the ride.

**Wow… A lot happened in this chapter, with one question answered (the Mako, Bolin, Asami one) another question is brought forth (Amon and Tarrlok relation) Amon hates politicians, but his own brother is one, but no one knows it his brother! O_O You guys and your reviews really inspired me to crank out another chapter :) so thank yourselves for the quick update. Also thanks to; TheBloodWeBondIn for giving me the Korra being a maid idea.. It made me want to write this chapter before I forgot to add that to the story ^_^ Hope you guys like the story so far.**


	6. A secret in his back pocket

Chapter 6

**Ack! I'm so obsessed with writing this right now, I'm neglecting the things I should be doing, but I'm so into writing right now :o**

**I really didn't expect to write Tarrlok in as a romantic encounter at first, I just thought it fit well in the last chapter, so now I'm gonna run with it. Sure it's an Amorra fic, but throwing a little Korrlok in there won't do any harm right? Right? -nudge- -nudge- **

A week had passed since the party and Korra hadn't seen very much of Amon since then. He would go to work, come home, take a quick shower and change clothes before going out for another party dinner thing and then come back home and go straight to bed. Nina told her this was how it usually was around election time for him and how stressed he usually was. If Nina telling her wasn't enough, the heavy bags under his eyes was as much as an indicator as any. It bothered Korra that after all he did to help her out, she couldn't do anything for him but continue helping with the rest of the staff.

Halfway through the week, Korra woke up ready for work, only to find out she had a day off. It wasn't her first day off, but she had gotten so used to the morning schedule that she had almost forgotten.

Korra came down the stairs to prepare herself the breakfast that she had gotten used to since living here; A huuuge bowl of cereal. Sure there were a ton of other options, but she always came back to that, making anything else was too annoying.

"Good morning." Korra jumped upon hearing Amon's voice. He was sitting at the kitchen island on a barstool, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper. She hadn't even seen him until he spoke up, she was so used to him being gone for work by this time of day.

**"**Oh, hey, good morning." she replied trying to play off the way she had just jumped out of her skin. Amon lifted his eyes from the paper and smirked at her attempt to do so. "I'm surprised you're not at work already." Korra went on almost bitterly.

"Hmmmm." he hummed sipping his coffee nonchalantly, "I'm going in late today, too tired to be bothered going in early. This is one of the perks of owning it all." another smug smile tugged at his lips and Korra rolled her eyes.

"Riiight." she replied as she walked over to the cabinet and pulled down a bowl and her favorite cereal.

"Out of all of the things we have in this home, you want cereal?" He asked, eying her over his newspaper.

"I like cereal, thank you very much!" Korra snorted as she went to get the milk. Amon's face twisted in amusement as he watched her. Korra was beginning to think that he kept her here as his own personal jester. "And what about you?" she asked trying to throw the question back at him, "Why are you having coffee for breakfast?"

"Ate too much at the party last night, still kinda full." he replied folding his paper and placing it to the side as she walked over to sit across from him with her own breakfast. "So I'm guessing you're off today, what are you going to do with yourself, seems like you've been in this house since I brought you here two weeks ago." Korra shrugged, her eyes focused on getting the marshmallows in her cereal. "Korra." he called again, demanding her attention. Her eyes shot up to meet his own. There was concern dwelling in those blue eyes of his, "You don't have to feel like you have to stay here all the time, you are free to come and go. You are free to quit of you want and go where ever you please, don't feel in debt to me because of the terms of our meeting. You're a free spirt, so do as you please." Korra stared back at him unsure what to say.

No one had _ever_ given her so much, and even when people did offer, it usually came with a price tag too high for her to pay. Years ago, a man offered Korra a similar deal, she could live with him, but she'd have to stay and do what_ever_ he wanted. That wasn't the life she wanted to live, so having someone give her everything, no strings attached, was somewhat overwhelming.

"Korra?" Amon called, pulling her from her train of thought.

"Ah, yes!" Korra jumped back to reality, "I understand, I'm actually thinking about going to meet up with Mako, Bolin, Asami, Tanzin and his family, so don't worry about me feeling cooped up or anything." Korra went on laughing nervously. The concern in Amon's eyes faded a bit and he nodded, pleased with her answer. He made a move to get up and turned to leave to kitchen and most likely get ready for work, "Amon?" Korra called as he was halfway to the door.

"Yes?" he asked turning around.

"I know I've thanked you a million times already, but; Thank you. I mean really, _Thank you._" She was so thankful for having met him, she couldn't find enough words to say it, so that would have to do. Surprise flickered on his face for a second before it turned into a gentle smile.

"Anytime, Korra." he grinned, and with that he left the room and got ready for his day, while Korra busied herself with plowing through her cereal. She had never been good at thanking people since people had never done much for her, but at this rate, staying with Amon would make her the guru at giving thanks.

After practically inhaling her breakfast, Korra ran up the stairs, took a quick shower and ran off to meet up with her friends at Tenzin's gym. It wasn't originally what she had planned for the day, but since Amon seemed so worried about her feeling cooped up, she came up with it on the fly, and it was a pretty good idea too.

Korra arrived at the gym and was met by the same swirly haired guy that she saw when she met with Tenzin and her friends the first time she ran into them at Amon's job.

"Can I help you?" he asked, smooth low voice pouring out, fair skin glistening with sweat and ice blue eyes piercing her own. If he didn't have the air about him of an arrogant prick, Korra may have even thought of him as attractive.

"I'm here to see my friends." she replied. A sly grin split his face, and he looked as if he was about to come up with some way to turn her away, but she pushed past him before he could.

"Hey! You can't just barge in here like that, this is a practice area for _real _fighters." he went on, latching onto her arm as she headed for where Tenzin's office was. At the feeling of the guy's hand on her arm, Korra turned and threw him a deadly glare.

"I _am_ a real fighter, if you don't believe me, I'll show you how _real_ I can fight when I kick your ass!" Korra boomed, throwing his hand off of her arm.

"You wanna fight with _me?_" The guy was asking, narrowing his eyes and leaning in to emphasize his point.

"Bring it on, pretty boy." Korra hissed, leaning in as well. He was making her blood boil, she was fairly certain she would have decked him too if Tenzin hadn't come around the corner at that moment.

"Oh, Korra, you're here. Tahno, leave her alone." Tenzin said, shock riddling his features.

"Yes sir." Tahno groaned as Korra stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'm guessing you're here to see your friends?" Tenzin smiled as he gently guided Korra down the hall and far away from the now seething Tahno.

"Yes I am actually, but that idiot back there started picking a fight with me." Korra replied as she looked around the gym. She had never really got to look around inside before. All of the equipment was state of the art, real champion gear. An aching hit Korra as she remembered how good she was at fighting, she kinda wished she would be able to fight again, but she didn't want to bring any trouble to Amon, so she would let that go. For now.

"Ahh, well they're upstairs in their room, I gave them a day off since they just won first place in a match yesterday." Tenzin beamed, clearly proud of his pupils.

"Really? I came by at a good time then." Korra smiled back.

"Indeed, I'm sure they'll be very happy to see you." Tenzin grinned back and pointed to the stairs, "Their room is at the end, have fun."

"Thanks Tenzin, say hello to your family for me, Amon really enjoyed having you guys over." Korra waved. Tenzin's smile went a bit tighter but he laughed it off as Korra ascended the stairs.

"Hellooooooo." Korra called as she knocked on the door. The sound of heavy footsteps warned her to take a step back from the door.

"KORRRAAAA!" Bolin yelled as the door flew open and he leaped forward and pulled her into a hug.

"Hey, Bo'." Korra laughed, hugging him back. After living with Bolin for so many years, she was all but used to his signature flying hugs.

"Nice of you to drop by." Asami smiled as she came over to hug Korra as well, "Come on in."

The room was big enough for them to all fit comfortably, messy enough to tell that Bolin lived there, but kept in check by Mako's obsessive neatness. A few model cars that were no doubt Asami's decorated the walls and three beds on different ends of the room were where they slept, leaving the middle of the room open for a small television and a few bean bag chairs.

"It's nice here." Korra smiled, it wasn't lavish or everything, but it portrayed their personalities perfectly. Kinda made Korra wonder if her room reflected her own tastes, but she quickly erased the thought, she was lucky enough to have a real place to live, personalization wasn't a priority.

"It is much nicer than what we used to have." Bolin laughed as Naga came strolling out from behind one of the beds.

"Naga!" Korra called as the excited mutt came and licked her face, "Tenzin let you keep her?" Korra asked, shock no doubt, all over her face.

"Yup, we tried our best not to leave anyone behind." Bolin replied. An awkward silence filled the air shortly after. So sure they hadn't meant to leave her behind and they were sorry and all, but it was still kinda awkward, "Uhh, sorry." Bolin added after a few minutes.

"It's cool," Korra smiled, petting Naga's head. It was clear that Naga had gotten a much needed bath, she seemed happier now, "Where's Mako?" Korra asked, scanning the room for him.

"He went out for a bit," Asami sighed, "We've kinda been arguing over everything lately. We were okay before but, lately he's just acting so weird."

"Really?" Korra asked. Mako had always been the together one, cool under pressure and all that. For him to be argumentative was very out of character for him.

"Yup." Bolin jumped in, "He's been acting like a total jerk for the past week, it's weird." Bolin frowned, clearly worried about his big brother.

"I'm sure it'll pass, but hey I heard you guys won a match the other day." Korra smiled as Bolin's face lit up again. A successful change of topic.

"Yeah! It was _amazing_!" He laughed. For the next few hours, Korra hung out with them, listened to Asami's tales of modeling, Bolin's big fighting adventures and Korra shared her own tales of her encounter with Tarrlok as well as her job as a maid, the whole time, Mako never showed up. The time flew by and before Korra knew it, the sun was setting and she decided it was time she got going before she had to walk back home in the dark. After waving a quick goodbye to her friends, going to say goodbye to Tenzin and scowling and Tahno behind Tenzin's back, Korra skipped off, feeling happier after seeing her friends.

Walking back wasn't a big deal, especially since she had forgotten to ask the driver who dropped her off to come pick her up and she didn't have much of a choice. but still. The city was nice at night and this part of the city was much safer than where she had grown up. She watched businessmen scurrying to their cars to go back to their families, or mistresses, and couples strolling past each other holding hands. Korra was wondering what it would have felt like to hold a guy's hand when she heard a familiar voice talking somewhere in the direction she was walking towards. _'Bleh, Tarrlok, that's the last person I want to run into.' _Korra frowned as she tried to hurry past before he would notice her. She could see that she was getting closer to him, he was waving goodbye to some men in suits and the men were going back into the building. Pushing herself to walk faster and hold her head down, she thought she was home free when she heard it…

"Miss Korra." Tarrlok called. In shock, Korra stopped, _'Crap, now I can't just act like I didn't hear him.. or can I?' _Korra thought, but as she was about to take another step, she felt a hand on her shoulder, _'Dammit! too late.'_

"Hello, Miss Korra, so nice to see you again." he smiled.

"Hmm, I see you, but I don't know if I'd say it's _nice_ to see you." Korra replied through a forced smile. She looked around, his friends were all gone.

"I see. Anyway, you looked as if you were in a rush to get somewhere, I can give you a ride if you want." though his smile wasn't the typical politicians smile she had grown so used to, it still made her skin crawl. Looking up and meeting his eyes, Korra decided she didn't like the almost kind way they were looking at her either. His eyes were the same cool blue of Amon's eyes so it wasn't the shade that bugged her, it was just that those eyes were in Tarrlok's eye sockets and she wasn't too fond of Tarrlok. Of course he wanted to be nice to her now, she had something over his head and he just wanted her to let it go. Not gonna happen.

"No thank you, I've grown quite used to walking, but you've seen where I've lived, I'm sure you're not too shocked." she gave him a sly smile, enjoying the paranoid glance he flashed over his shoulder.

"Korra, let's not talk about this in public, it is not the time nor the place." his voice was stern and hard, a voice she'd never heard from a politician… well at least not in front of cameras.

"Why not?" Korra challenged. Tarrlok sighed and rubbed his forehead, seeing that Korra wasn't giving up her upper hand position so easily. Korra watched as Tarrlok looked back at his awaiting car.

"I wanted to do the nice thing and offer you a ride, I don't have time for this." he growled, finding himself once more irritated by her, just as he had been the first time they met. He was almost thankful that she was wearing street clothes this time around as it made arguing with her less… distracting.

"I don't need your pity Tarrlok, people like you won't understand." she scoffed, looking away from him.

"And _what_ do you mean by that?" he asked almost amused by this little girl's accusations.

"I bet you've never lived on the streets, you don't feel the pain that kids feel not knowing where the next meal will come from or the pain of freezing on cold winter nights. People like you just waltz into our neighborhoods and promise us that you'll make it better on camera, but you never do! You leave us there with broken dreams the second you're elected." she could feel tears welling in her eyes, but she refused to let one spill in front of him,"Sure, there might be bigger things to do than take care of the street kids when it comes to running a city, but don't give us fake dreams." She scowled, pointing her finger inches from his now blank face.

Part of Tarrlok was angry that she was thinking he never felt hardship, he was almost inclined to share his own story of the past, but he was more impressed that she was even able to make him _want_ to talk about it. No one had gotten under his skin like that in a long time.

"Fine, you win, you're right." He held up his hands in surrender, "All that you said is true, but I am not in charge of anything, I can't change the way politics work, but if I promise to keep your words in mind for when I get in office, would you accept the ride?" he asked, smiling weakly. Tarrlok couldn't imagine how his brother had the energy to deal with such a lively girl. "But still that's life, we're politicians, not super heroes, you expect us to be able to do everything we plan to do when we get our spotlight? That's just foolish." Tarrlok scoffed and glanced down but was shocked to see Korra was already several paces away. "How dare you just walk away from me!" Tarrlok yelled, anger propelling him forward as he reached out and grabbed Korra's wrist.

"Careful, Tarrlok," Korra grinned slyly, "it'll be pretty bad if the press gets a pick of you picking on a little girl."

"You're hardly a little girl." Tarrlok growled, narrowing his eyes. Geez! It was almost sick the way she managed to get under his skin in one too many ways just by staring at him with those calm crystal eyes of hers.

"I only turned 17 two months ago, the law still sees me as a little girl, and I'm sure the press will too."

"Shit." Tarrlok hissed, letting go of her wrist, "_You_ are_ the_ most infuriating human being I've met in my _life_, and considering the people I've met, that's saying a lot." he growled through clenched teeth.

"Flattery won't make me forget you still owe me." Korra smiled wickedly once more before turning away and continuing her trek back home leaving Tarrlok red with anger behind her.

"Get back here!" Tarrlok hissed, but she paid him no mind. If there was one thing Tarrlok couldn't stand, it was being looked down on, and if there was one thing he couldn't stand more than being looked down on, it was being ignored, and Korra had just done both.

"Follow that girl from a distance, I'm not letting this end here." Tarrlok yelled at his driver as he got into his car.

"Yes sir." his driver replied before pulling off.

Tarrlok couldn't help but think how oddly familiar the area Korra was walking through was, as if he had been there before. When she came up to a large gated area, Tarrlok felt his eyes go wide with shock. She was going to Amon's were only two logical explanations; he knew she had been a maid there, but he hadn't thought she was a live in maid, perhaps that was it, it was either that or Tarrlok's accusations of Amon having feelings for Korra had been right and she was coming to spend time with her lover.

"Korra!" Tarrlok yelled, leaping out of his car oddly worried that the last situation might be true. Korra's fingers froze on the keypad as she was about to enter the code to open the front gate. Tarrlok couldn't help but want to laugh at her, but he held the laughter in.

"You _followed me_?" Korra bit out in shock, "I knew you were a bit of a scum, but I didn't think you had it in you to be so creepy." Korra snorted, quickly punching in the last two numbers into the keypad before watching the gate yawn open. She jumped into the safety of the gate and pressed the button to close it repeatedly before the ever approaching Tarrlok could get in.

"Why are you coming here?" Tarrlok was asking from behind the now closed gate.

"I work here, problem with that?" Korra challenged sticking her tongue out from the other side.

"I thought the law saw you as a little girl, ever think you might mess up Amon's good name if you remain living here?" Tarrlok smirked as her triumphant grin fell, she clearly hadn't thought of that, "I mean a strange little girl that no one has much of any record on just living in his house? I don't think that would look good."

"The law would see me as what I am; a worker. Besides, the law was never paying me any mind when I was living on the streets, why should it now?" she asked before turning and going towards the front door.

"You're gonna ruin his name! Just because you're cleaned up now doesn't change that you're a dirty street kid!" Tarrlok yelled. He didn't want to yell it really and he really didn't mean it, but the politician in him couldn't let her have the last word in this debate, even if his comeback was childish.

Amon had been inside sitting in his living room with a book in his hands, but his mind was elsewhere. All of the staff, but Lue and Nina who lived there, had gone home, so it was fairly quiet, enough for him to actually think. Amon had spent his evening at another dinner a few hours ago, and Tarrlok had been there, once again accusing him of having some sort of feelings for Korra. Amon scoffed thinking back to how Tarrlok had accused him of harboring feelings for Korra the very first time. Just because he found her attractive, objectively speaking, didn't mean he was attracted _to_ her, and just because he enjoyed her company just meant he found her interesting, that was all. His mind flashed back to sitting in the limo and wanting to bury has nose in her sweet smelling hair, '_I am still a man after all. That's a natural reaction' _he rationalized before yelling coming from outside broke the silence and snapped him from his thoughts. The sound of the front door slamming shut echoed through the house.

"Korra?" Amon called from the living room. It was the only person it could have been, she was the only person who lived there who wasn't home, but there was no around the corner to see who was standing in his house, he saw Korra with her back against the door, face unreadable in the darkness.

"Korra." Amon called again.

"Oh, sorry. Hello, Amon." Korra did her best to smile as she lifted her head, but she couldn't be sure if it came out right.

"What was all the yelling outside about?" he asked. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't been able to make out what was being yelled, but he was certain it was a man's voice doing the yelling.

"Ohh, it's nothing really." Korra smiled again and began heading for the stairs, but Amon grabbed her by the arm and turned her to look at him again.

"If someone is messing with you, tell me. Do I not seem trustworthy enough?" Amon asked, placing a hand on each of her shoulders.

"It's not that." Korra sighed, shrugging his hands off of her shoulders, "I trust you, but please don't feel as though you have to take care of everything for me. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." And with that, she turned wearily and went up the stairs leaving Amon standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"A big girl or a little girl, is still a girl, a girl is still a human and sometimes humans need the support of others. Don't feel as if you must face everything alone. You're not alone anymore, don't you know that?" Amon called after her, freezing her in her tracks.

"If it's anything I can't handle, I'll ask for help." she turned smiling softly. It was a smile he had never seen her smile before, it was soft and warm, but there was something sad behind it. Something so sad he wanted to reach out and hug her, but a tugging thread of common sense reminded him that it most likely would have been painfully awkward for both of them. So instead he watched as she turned and went up the stairs.

Something about the scene brought up a feeling that Amon hadn't felt in years. He was curious about her, suddenly wanted to know more about her and what made her so strong. Sure living on the streets would make a person tougher, but most lost the sense of justice and independence that Korra had. Amon wanted to know _why_ she was so strong, what was her story, who was she really? For the first time since his own childhood, Amon was filled with burning questions that he wanted the answers to and for a simple reason; she seemed so much more like him then he'd care to admit and he wondered why they were again so different. He wanted to make sure it stayed that way too. The world couldn't handle two of him, just as it couldn't handle two Tarrlok's. Even if there were things he had to continue to keep in the dark from Korra, he silently promised himself that very night, to remain kind to her so that she wouldn't become like him. Even in his own darkened heart, the light she had in her he knew better than to tamper with, she could only ever be a victim of the circumstances after all, why go altering who she is?

Amon heard Korra's door snap shut and waited an hour in the living room with his book before he felt that she should have been asleep. Dropping the book to the table, Amon went to the closet and grabbed his grey hooded silk coat before heading out the door. He didn't call a cab, he didn't take a car, he just pulled his hood over his head and began walking with a purpose. He passed through his part of town, past the middle class part of town, past the part of town that Korra once called home, and went straight to the slums to take care of his business. No one here knew who he really was, but they did know what he was capable of, so they all bowed their heads with respect upon seeing the hooded figure walk into their part of town. Nights like these, Amon decided as he entered a dingy little bar, were one of the things he was going to have to keep in the dark from Korra. Things like these would change her view of the only person who has shown her unconditional kindness. If she knew who he really was, wouldn't that make the childish light in her eyes a little dimmer? No, things like this, she would never know of. Amon silently groaned as he took his seat in a booth and waited for his company to arrive, all of the hiding things from this girl… '_this was why I never had children.'_

**Duhn duhn duhn…. Perhaps Amon isn't a squeaky clean business sort of guy you know, but what is he up to? o.o He's also becoming more curious about Korra, while Tarrlok is trying to figure out how ****_not_**** to stick his foot in his mouth every time Korra pisses him off… which she does quite ofter XD Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting on the story, really pushes me to get the next chapter out sooner… especially since I always hate having to wait for chapters. So yeah thanks again please review if you don't mind ^_^**


	7. A life is saved, a friendship is forged

Chapter 7

**I thought Amon and Korra deserved a bit of a break this chapter, their lives have been so busy and changed a lot lately, a break would be good for them.**

It had been a sleepless night for Korra. Tarrlok's words playing through her head. She wasn't a dirty street kid now, but that was thanks to Amon, but what if Tarrlok was right? What if she did ruin him? A light knocking at the door pulled Korra from her thoughts as she looked at the clock next to her bed. Green numbers flashing 6:01 reminded her that it was about time for her to start her daily job.

"Coming, Nina." Korra called half heartedly as she pulled on some decent clothes. Korra was happy to be able to help out however she could especially since Amon had saved her life and all, but she was less than thrilled about being a maid. Sure, Korra caught on quick and was pretty good at it if she did say so herself, but Korra wasn't really into the whole domestic, home work kinda thing. It was kinda boring. Mako and Bolin got to have the thrill of a good fight, Asami got to travel with Pema when there were fashion shows further off, while Korra dusted a house. Korra scoffed as she pulled her shirt on as she thought of how ironic it was that even though she had always been the most adventurous, she was the one with the most boring job of all.

Whatever, at least she had a place to stay, Korra reminded herself that every time she got bored. Walking to the door and pulling it open, Korra jumped back in surprise to see Amon standing in her doorway, face cool and collected as always.

"Oh!" Korra squeaked before looking around to see where Nina was, "Uhm, where's Nina, I start soon, sorry if I woke up a bit late." Korra babbled unsure of what reason Amon had to be at her door other than that.

Amon's mouth curled in the smugly amused smile that Korra had grown so used to, "Nina is more than capable at handling her work alone." the smile suddenly disappeared just as fast as it showed itself. "Korra, I won't dig about what happened last night and who was yelling, but you've had a very stressful few weeks." his face was turned in an expression that almost resembled concern.

"As if you haven't." Korra mumbled, observing the bags under his eyes that seemed to be more prominent now than ever.

"Exactly." Amon sighed rubbing his forehead tiredly, "Which is why I was pondering a day trip, I usually go on small vacations this time of year, but alone. Now that I have a guest living here I felt it would be rude to exclude you." Korra stared at him, unsure what to say. The promise of adventure and getting away from the house a bit beckoning her, but the thought of being intrusive leaving her unsure how to respond.

"I don't want to intrude. Just as you said before, I didn't have to do things I didn't want out of a feeling of obligation, you don't have to either." A bark of laughter followed a few seconds of awkward silence.

"You're a funny girl Korra, you're not intruding. I must say though, good job at turning the tables on me. We're leaving in an hour so dress warm." Amon chuckled before turning and leaving Korra standing there stunned and confused in the doorway. Only the day before he decided he wanted to know what made Korra so interesting, so independent, what made her, her. Amon had no intention of letting her say no to his offer anyway.

"Well it was nice talking?" Korra muttered under her breath before shutting the door and going back in her room. Though she said no to the trip, though she was kinda being dragged along, Korra could barely hold in the excitement of getting to see a new place and practically ran to the shower attached to her room to get ready for the day.

An hour later, Korra came down the stairs and saw Lue and Amon standing waiting for her, both dressed in winter clothes. Lue was wearing a thick fluffy coat, while Amon wore a long silken coat, thin, but lined with fur to keep him warm. Nina had given Korra some of her daughter's old clothes that fit her perfectly as Korra never really got a chance to expand her wardrobe a lot. She wore a thick deep blue coat that made her eyes look even bluer, with matching pants and a pair of thick fur lined boots.

"Sooooo, where are we going?" Korra smirked as she got to the bottom of the stairs and bounded over to them. Lue scoffed at her enthusiasm while Amon laughed at her antics yet again.

"You will see when we get there. Aren't some things better left as surprises?" Amon asked as Lue opened the door for them to head outside. Korra frowned. Patience and waiting, wasn't really her thing.

Lue held the car door open; Amon ducked into the car with no problem, while Korra bumped her head on the top of the car, upon which Lue smiled with great joy at seeing her pain. Korra scowled and ducked into the car, trying her best to resist the urge to flip him off. Lue's dislike of her wasn't going to get her down, not when there was an impending adventure.

The car pulled off and Korra watched eagerly out of the window while the scenery changed from city to more rural. From the window, she could see snow covered hills and mountains, shinning bright as the sunlight reflected off of them in the most stunning way. Korra, being a girl to up to a few weeks ago lived in a broken shack in the city, had never seen anything like it and gazed in awe.

"Do you _see_ this?" Korra turning to face Amon, but jumped a bit, surprised to find that he was already looking at her.

"Ahh." Amon chuckled at her surprise, "I didn't mean to stare, your reactions are just so child like."

"Ugh," Korra groaned turning back to the window, "I know I'm still kind of a kid, but why does everyone seem to want to constantly remind me?"

Amon's eyebrows knit in confusion "I wasn't particularly implying that _you_ yourself was childish, just that you face the world head on and with a wide eyed _child like_ wonder. It's quite amazing actually." Amon replied. Korra turned to face him only to find him gazing out of his own window with an expression indicating that his mind was far away, "It's amazing that after living the way you have, you haven't lost the ability to see the world the way you do." Though his face was turned and he spoke with the same calmness he usually did, there was a tinge of sadness that was impossible for Korra to miss. Amused, smug, calm, mildly concerned, tired, and irritated. Those were all of the emotions that Korra had ever picked up on from him, the sadness in his voice didn't sound odd from him it just wasn't characteristic of him. No. What did Korra even know about Amon to decide what was characteristic for him or not? She didn't know much about him at all Korra realized as she looked over to the scarred man next to her. The swirling scar tissue that she had never really thought about, she suddenly found herself wondering, how it happened, suddenly curious about the admittedly weird, yet kind man that she was now living with. There were about a million questions buzzing in her head, but she couldn't figure out how to even ask one as they both sat in silence as Amon went on day dreaming.

"You just deal with the hand you were given." Korra murmured after some time once she actually thought about what he had said right before the silence.

"Hmm?" Amon asked turning to face her again. Any trace of sorrow was gone as he faced her.

"I was just saying, that I haven't lost my outlook on things because, I still am who I am. No situation will change who I am, so I just deal with the hand I've got and get as much joy from what I've got as I can. Simple." Korra shrugged looking over at him. Amon chuckled, "It does sound simple when it's put like that. The world could use more people with thinking like you."

"You're one to talk, you took in a random girl off of the streets." Korra shrugged, "I'd be dead on the sidewalk if not for you." she shuddered just remembering her near death encounter.

"Well, it was for the same reason I bought you the burger when you tried to rob me. You seemed like a good, kid on the inside despite your situation. You seemed strong too, like someone who would fight for what's good, and this world needs more people like that more than ever." he went on. Korra nodded in agreement, she couldn't even count the amount of times she had seen people get mugged and sometimes far worse things.

"Well the world needs more people thinking like the both of us, so let's leave it at that. All of the complimenting back and forth is getting weird." Korra chuckled, but was surprised to see the grave look on Amon's face.

Korra could see that there was something he wanted to say, probably something important based on the way his face was bunched up, but the second he opened his mouth to speak, the car eased to a halt. "We're here." Amon murmured, but Korra was almost certain that's not what he was going to say before.

Turning to the window, all thoughts about asking Amon what he was _really_ going to say flew away as Korra's took in a sharp breath of shock. They had pulled up to a small home up in the mountains. A chimney rose up out of the brown tiled rooftop, a swing hung from the now barren tree sat in the front yard and a wooden door with a stained glass window and matching windows on either side greeted them as they walked towards the house.

"What is this place?" Korra asked looking over to Amon, who was once again laughing at her '_child like mannerisms'_.

"This place is whatever I need it to be. It's the place I go when I need to get away from it all. I thought after how busy you've been lately and how much things have changed for you, some time away from everything might be good for you too." he replied as he fished in his pockets for the key to the house. Korra felt giddy and could barely stand still as she looked around wanting nothing more than to give in to the childish desire to dive in the snow and play in it until she was tired.

"You can go if you want." Amon smirked as he picked up on the way she was staring longingly at the snow.

"Heheh." Korra chuckled , she still wanted to see the inside of the house, but the _snow!_ The only snow she had ever seen was always black and laden with debris, but _this_ was pure white, cloud like, fluffy snow. Looking back to Amon and then back to the snow, Korra's face split into a grin and she ran to the snow from the shoveled out walkway.

Amon chuckled as the door swung open. The inside was clean despite the fact that he hadn't been there in months. The workers cleaned it every month in case he decided to visit. The inside was nothing like his home in the city. The city home was large and grand, nothing more than a way for him to show his importance, while this home was smaller, far more simplistic. This home had been made that way to mimic his home he grew up in. Amon had made all of the furniture himself out of rich maple wood to match the floors and ceiling, this was the only place he really felt at ease. There were no people to impress, no double lives, just him and the mountains. As he went to get a glass of water from the kitchen he pondered coming back alone so that he would have a chance to get some work done. He gazed out the window as he sipped at his glass. He could see Korra from there, squealing as she threw the snow in the air, smiling, face red with laughter. He was almost surprised to find himself smiling from watching her awestruck expression fat snow flakes began to fall again.

"She doesn't even seem to mind the cold." he chuckled, sipping his water again. The inside of the home was about as cold as the outside, since the home was modeled after his old home, he decided to have to home heated by the fire place instead of typical heating, which was fine since he usually slept on the couch near the fire when he stayed overnight anyway. Amon walked over to where the firewood was stored and frowned to see that there wasn't very much left, he would have to go cut some down. Sighing, he grabbed the axe that was in a box next to where the wood was stored and headed outside.

"I'll be back." he called to Korra as he headed towards the woods further off behind the house.

"Where are you going?" Korra asked running over to meet up with him.

"Well I have an axe, what do you think?"

"Zombie hunting?" Korra replied with a tone of grave seriousness. Amon gave her a look that seriously questioned her sanity before she broke out in laughter. "I'm guessing the house is heated by firewood?" Korra went on still laughing as she followed him.

"Yes. I'll be back soon, there's still firewood in the house for you to burn if you decide you want to warm up." Amon informed her and she nodded before running back to play in the snow again.

Korra never really had a chance to be a kid, so moments like this, she truly savored. Off in the distance, she could hear the sound of Amon chopping wood as she tried to figure out how to make a snowman. something she's always wanted to do. "It starts out with a ball of snow, I think." Korra murmured as she began her attempt to make a snowman. She was cold, and the snow felt like it was picking up, but she wasn't going inside until the snowman was done.

By the time Korra was finished the body of the snowman and put on the eyes and mouth with some pebbles near the walkway, the snow was coming down in copious amounts and she couldn't hear Amon chopping wood anymore, he should have been done by now, so where was he? Korra strained her eyes to look towards the woods that he went off into earlier, but the blankets of snow coming down obstructed her vision.

"Amon?" She called out, but she was only met with the echoing of her own voice. Panic surged through her. They were the only people out here, what if something happened to him out there? She was wondering. Without thinking, Korra found herself running toward the woods the best she could in the snow and against the winds that were rapidly picking up in speed. Korra remembered weather like this, a blizzard was coming.

She suddenly remembered a long time ago, when she was still living with her friends on the streets a blizzard hit while Bolin was out looking for food. Everyone went out to look for him in the storm, they found him huddled against a wall, stiff from the cold and face tear streaked from crying. That memory alone was enough to remind her how harsh weather like that could be and enough to push her to go faster so that she could get Amon and get back inside. If something happened to Amon, she was his only hope to not end up half frozen like Bolin was… or worse.

"Amon!" Korra called out again as she came closer to the woods, but there was still no response. He should have been able to hear her from where she was. Something was wrong.

"Amon! Where are you!" She cried, stumbling into the woods her eyes scanning for anything _anything_ that would indicate where he was. The day before she was worrying about what would happen if the media got hold of the news that Amon had a strange girl living in his house, but him being found in a house on the mountains half frozen or worse, with a strange girl as his company would _really_ ruin his name, but still his name was the last thing she was really concerned with as she trudged into the woods. Korra just didn't want him dead.

"Amon!" She cried again, her voice breaking as fear gripped her throat, "Amon answer me! Where are y-" the words fell short as she saw a boot sticking out from behind a tree. Running over, Korra heard herself gasp as she got a good look at the scene. Amon was in unconscious in the snow, chopped wood in a neat pile near him,a large branch next to his head and axe held loosely in his hand.

"Oh no." Korra breathed as she realized that the branch must have knocked him out. She could see he was breathing, but it was strained. Throwing the axe away from his hand, Korra wrangled him onto his back suddenly thankful for the strength she gained from fighting on the streets. _'He's much heavier than he looks' _Korra noted as she began walking. She could hear his breathing heavy and unsteady in her ear as his head lulled about, while the unevenness of his breathing urging her to get back as fast as she could. Getting into a jogging pace, Korra didn't think of how heavy he was, how cold she was, or how hard it was to see, she just focused on what she could see of the house in the distance and kept her eyes on it until she was close enough to open the front door.

Panting, Korra threw the door open and dumped him on the couch. The house was still freezing and he was in wet clothes, neither of which was good for his condition at the moment. Korra looked around and saw the door still open for where the wood was kept. She quickly threw some into the fire place and started a fire with some matches she found lying nearby. First problem solved now for the wet clothes. Neither of them had brought a change of clothes as it was meant to be a day trip, but Korra figured he probably kept spare clothes in his bedroom.

Running to the bedroom, Korra grabbed the first clothes she could and ran back to the living room to Amon. It wasn't until Korra was standing over him that she realized that putting _on_ the dry clothes meant taking _off_ the wet ones. A blush crawled up to her face, but Korra ignored it, she wasn't going to let embarrassment let this man die. She pulled off the jacket, struggling to get it off without knocking him to the floor. With that done, Korra moved onto the shirt, pulling it up over his head and letting it fall to the floor in a soggy wad. She paused for a moment, no wonder he was so heavy, he had muscle on him that was more suited for a professional fighter rather than a business man, but there was one other thing that caught her attention; the scars. She thought they would have stopped at his face, but by seeing the thick scar tissue that came down to a single narrowed point to his navel, she was clearly wrong. She couldn't have even begun to imagine how much that must have hurt. Without thinking, Korra's fingers reached out to touch the scars, but the deathly stiffness and coldness of his flesh was a reminder that she was supposed to be putting on warmer clothes. Korra felt herself blush again as she pulled the rusty coloured turtleneck sweater onto him. Next came the part she was dreading the most.

_'Please don't wake up now, please don't wake up now!'_ Korra silently begged as she fumbled to pull the fly down and slipped his pants off before dumping them next to his shirt. She had already decided he was just going to have to live with wet and cold undies, cuz' there was _no_ way she was taking those off. Grabbing the sweat pants she pulled from the dresser, Korra did her best to pull the pants on with her eyes shut, somehow feeling as if she were violating him. When she opened her eyes, she felt quite proud of herself, sure the pants were on backwards, but it had the same warming effect either way. Amon's head was tossed to the side, his breathing still a bit struggled, but Korra was pretty sure this was all she could do, only time would tell now. She hurriedly put his clothes up near the fireplace to dry.

With him dealt with, Korra decided she should change her clothes too. She went to the bedroom and found a large button up shirt of his, good enough for her. Quickly changing into the shirt, Korra gathered her clothes and hung them next to the fire place along with Amon's clothes to dry. Looking over to Amon again, she could see he was still shivering visibly even though she stood several paces away. Remembering the blanket that was on the bed, Korra ran back to the room and draped it over him, with a worried grimace.

"Don't die here, not like this, I never had a chance to pay you back the favors yet." Korra murmured, on the verge of a panic attack. This started out as a fun day trip, now she was trying her best to keep Amon from dying of hypothermia. Odd how things always went bad for her like that. She was tired and quite cold herself despite the fireplace, her mind fried from trying to think of what to do to help him. With the blizzard outside, she doubted anyone was going to come and pick them up until at least the next day.

The next thing Korra knew, she was throwing the blanket open and curling up at at his side, wiggling close to his side and wrapping her arms around him so that she could share as much of her body heat as possible. She rested her head on his chest, unsure where else to rest it. The slow steady thumping of his heart and struggled breathing wasn't much reassurance. "Don't die." Korra murmured again, a tear slipping down her cheek and onto the rust coloured wanted to stay awake and wanted to monitor his health, but exhaustion swept over her and as much as she tried to fight it, "Don't die." she murmured again before sleep took her far away.

The next morning Amon awoke, with a major headache and was surprised to feel the warmth of a blanket on him and the sight of the ceiling of the house. He couldn't remember coming back inside, in fact, he didn't even remember walking back to the house, he just remembered chopping wood, hearing a loud crack and then nothing. He tried to get up and move, but something heavy and warm was holding him down. Peaking down from the corner of his eye, he saw Korra, arms around his chest, leg over his, sound asleep and drooling a bit on his chest.

"_Shit!"_ Amon hissed under his breath, sure he found her attractive and interesting, but he didn't mean to do anything with her. The shirt he was wearing was definitely not the one he had worn the day before, so _something_ must have happened, clothes don't just change themselves. Suddenly, the fact that he couldn't remember anything was alarming. Neither of his double lives had time for females and Korra didn't seem like the kind of girl that was into a one night stand, he'd have to let her down easy. _'now what do I say? I'm not Tarrlok, messing around with women's minds isn't my strong point.' _Amon thought as he looked down at her. He lost his train of thought and gave up on the idea entirely, he'd just tell her whatever happened had been a mistake and then deal with her wrath. That was the simplest way, he supposed. Now he just had to wait for her to wake up. Waking her just to tell her he didn't really mean to do whatever happened the night before seemed a bit harsh, he figured he'd wait until she woke on her own. All that was left was to wait, but that was easier said then done.

At first, his eyes rested on the window, but the light pouring in didn't bode well with is throbbing head. Next, his eyes fell on the fizzled out fire place and then on the clothes that hung near them. He cringed as he saw it was both of their clothes, just more proof that something happened between them. His eyes went back to Korra again with some regret. He wanted to be kind to her and not mess with the brightness in her eyes, not bed her, for crying out loud!

Korra shifted next to him, pulling him closer, her thigh resting on his own, her hand resting now on his shoulder and her curves more prominent now through the blanket. With that, Amon tried his best to put his mind elsewhere; work, social life, his darker business, anything to keep himself from really thinking that there was a pretty girl draped on him, he was still male, he still had desires that even his mind couldn't silence. His mind settled on work and all of the crappy fake people he would have to deal with when he got back did well at cooling the fire that was building under his skin.

She stirred again, this time it seemed like she would be getting up, he looked down at her again now that he had, umm, calmed down. That was probably the first time he really noticed that she was more than attractive, she was actually quite stunning. Her carmel skin glowed from the sunlight pouring in, long eyelashes rested against her cheek, full lips parted (and still drooling) all of this (minus the drooling) added up to a beautiful face. All this time he hadn't really noticed since in his mind he was still that little girl from the streets, but looking at her now, he could see what his co-workers stared at her when he took her to that dinner party. _'Enough of this, she's still a child.' _Amon reminded himself, he didn't want to think like those old men at the party, or worse, Tarrlok.

Amon didn't have anymore time to go back and forth with this mental battle of his as just then Korra's eyes suddenly flew open and she bolted up to look at him. She looked at him for a second with a stunned expression and he did the same. "Good morning Korra, I'm sorry for, umm, yesterday, I actua-" he started but was cut off by her throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

"It's okay, don't even worry about it, you saved me so many times and I'm so grateful." she was murmuring. Amon felt sick, she slept with him because he saved her life, how the hell did this all even happen in the first place?

"Korra's it's really not okay, it's not healthy for that to be the reason to do something like that." he said, taking hold of her by the shoulders and pushing her back at arms length. Now he could see that she was wearing one of his shirts and he felt even more guilty, especially with the confused look she was giving him.

"Okay so sure you were heavy and it wasn't easy especially since it was so cold bu-"

"Korra!" Amon barked giving her a good shake, "Don't you think you deserve better? There are so many people in this world, don't just settle." he was practically yelling, but she looked more confused than ever.

"Those millions of people never cared about me, they never took me in, but you did, was I supposed to just leave you there to die?" she asked, her expression almost hurt.

"Korra I just don-" Her words settled in just as he began talking, "What do you mean leave me to die?" he asked loosening his grip on her shoulder.

"You had been away for a long time so I got worried and went to look for you. I found you in the woods unconscious, I think a branch knocked you out. I wasn't sure how long you had been there, but hypothermia looked like it would have start setting in if I had been any later."

"_You_ carried me back?" Amon asked, stunned that she could manage such a feat.

"Yup," Korra nodded, "I started a fire and changed you out of the wet clothes, don't worry I didn't look." she added, "And sorry if me being close made you feel weird, you were shivering still and I didn't know what else to do to keep you warm so I just umm.. yeah." she trailed off, fiddling with her fingers.

Amon stared at her in disbelief. This little girl he found so amusing and childlike had just saved his _life_. He thought to hug her, but then thought it might be weird, but found himself hugging her anyway. Just as she said no one bothered to save her before he did, without her knowledge, she had been the first to save him. "Thank you, Korra."

He could hear Korra laugh, most likely out of shock from the sudden display of affection, "You're very welcome, but what exactly did you think I was talking about? You didn't seem to remember that I was talking about carrying you here." she asked as he pulled away. He wasn't going to hide what he thought, but hugging her while he told her seemed too weird.

"I thought something may have happened between us when I noticed the change of clothes and you wrapped around me." he admitted.

"Hah!" Korra laughed, "'I'm not into little girls', I think you've made it quite clear several times since I've known you." she mocked with an impression so good that it made him wonder how many other times she mimicked him, but he still felt a grin come across his face. "Does this place have a kettle?" she was suddenly asking as she got to her feet, "I think tea would be nice, you want some?" she asked looking back at him from over his shoulder.

"That would be nice, the kettle is stored in the cabinet next to the sink." he replied, straining to not stare at her bare legs.

"Got it." she smirked, heading off to the kitchen. As she walked off, he took a deep breath. Sure he didn't have a _thing_ for girl's Korra's age, he was 40 and didn't even have a _thing_ for any of the women he knew that were _his_ age, but watching her walk off, Amon knew that he would have to be careful not to end up having a _thing_ for Korra. 17 or not, he was starting to see the beauty the men at the party saw on her face, but that mixed with the light he saw in her personality was a deadly mix especially now as he saw that her drive to help and do what's good for others went as far as wandering into the woods in the middle of a blizzard to save someone.

Korra came back a few minutes later with two steaming hot mugs in her hands and a smile on her face. Handing one to him, she sat next to him and began to talk about how she thought the driver would be able to come back and get them later that day, but Amon simply smiled softly as he sipped his tea while his mind reeled with a million thoughts, the biggest one was how to keep Korra at a distance without offending her. With her showing more and more things that Amon found attractive, he was definitely going to have to make some space from her before he was in too deep and didn't want to.

**Okay, so remember at the beginning of the chapter when I said I was going to give them a break? Well I honestly did plan to do that, buuuuut then I finished the chapter and realized I hadn't done that at all… my bad XD But I did give them alone time, so that's something right?**


	8. Catharsis

Chapter 8

**Okay, so this chapter is a bit sad…. Part of why it's rated M for safety, but don't worry, it lightens up a bit :)**

Korra and Amon sat on the couch, both having finished their tea some time ago, but neither knowing of what to do now. The room was cold, but they were low on firewood, he was sure the staff would have picked them up by now, so starting a new fire hadn't crossed Amon's mind when he first woke up, but now that he could feel Korra shivering from where she sat next to him, he got decided it was probably best to just start the fire.

"Do you think they're come for us soon?" Korra asked as he got to his feet.

"I'd like to say yes, but I don't know." he replied, tossing some fire in the fire place and lighting it. He frowned, the fire would only last a few hours and there were only a few more pieces of timber left, that wouldn't do.

"What are you doing?" Korra asked cautiously from the couch.

"I have to go get what I chopped last night, this fire isn't going to last very long otherwise." He replied as he buttoned up his coat, his back turned to her as he spoke.

"We have the blanket, we'll be fine."

"The blanket can only be so warm Korra." He didn't want to say flat out that he was trying to make space from her and that sharing a blanket wasn't helpful for his goal.

"Then, I'm going with you." Korra cried and dashed over to put her own coat on.

"Korra, I'll be fine." Amon sighed, turning to look at her, her big blue eyes stared up at him wordlessly begging him not to go. "Korra." he sighed again, "Do you want to freeze?"

"No, but I don't want something to happen to you again, I don't want to be left alone up here again." she admitted, looking away. How could he say no when she put it like that?

"Korra." he said grabbing a firm hold of her shoulder, "I'm going to be fine, just wait here for me." he assured her as he tried to guide her back to the couch, but he could tell by the way she set her jaw, that it wasn't going to be that easy.

Ten minutes later, Korra and Amon stepped outside with shovels and began making their way towards the woods. Amon tried everything but tying her to the damn couch to get her to stay behind, but stubborn as always, Korra talked him into somehow letting her come along with him. Then again, now that he could see that the snow was almost at his waist, having her along to help him shovel may not have been such a bad thing after all.

"So, is the weather usually this crazy?" Korra asked as she shoveled the snow aside trying to hide the disappointment that her snowman had been destroyed in the blizzard.

"No, not usually. I checked the weather before we left too and it mentioned nothing of a blizzard.

Korra laughed and threw him a teasing glare, "Now, now you should know by now that anytime I'm involved, nothing goes as planned." Amon laughed, a slow chuckle that somehow managed to sound genuine. If only she knew how much things weren't going as planned '_If she wasn't so damn naive, nice and attractive, maybe things would have been going as planned and I wouldn't have to worry about things getting out of control.' _Amon huffed as he looked over to Korra's whose face was adorably red from the cold and exertion. He rolled his eyes in frustration. So he hadn't really fallen for her yet, but he did plan to go outside alone to clear his mind before things got any weirder for him. He was 40 and attractive or not, she was 17, he didn't want to be with her, but fundamentally, she was his type, and her sticking up under him last night didn't help the fact that he was a male and she was a female and fundamentally, that would have an effect on him mentally and physically.

Settling his mind on fully concentrating on shoveling the snow, he tried his best to ignore Korra's presence as he got his mind together, the serious expression on his face confusing Korra.

Korra glanced over at Amon, to see him with an expression she'd never seen before. His brows were knit as he shoveled, eyes intense, he was concentrating deeply on something. For a second Korra wondered what was on his mind and even thought to ask him, but she already felt as if she was kind of intruding on his space, she didn't need to get into his mind as well, he should at least have that much.

The snow that Korra had been so amazed by just the day before had so suddenly become her enemy overnight. The pure white color was blinding as the sun reflected off of it, the fluffiness of it suddenly feeling as if it weighed tons. The walk to the woods that had only been ten minutes the day before, took four times as long after digging all the way towards the stack of wood and shoveling it out, the entire time, Amon was silent as death.

It wasn't until the two had dumped their armfuls of wood into the storage bin and started a new fire that Amon spoke again as Korra took off her coat.

"How did you manage to live during winters out there?" Amon asked, eyes fixed in the fire in front of him, his own coat hanging loosely in his hand, "When you lived on the streets I mean."

"Just stayed inside the best I could and stay close to my friends. Body heat has always worked when there were no blankets around." Korra smiled as she fixed her eyes on the fire too, thinking fondly back to the times she spent with her friends in their broken home. Sure where they lived wasn't pretty, but it had been her home, and in an odd way, she missed it.

"You were lucky to have had your friends." Amon went on, eyes still on the crackling fire but voice oddly….sad almost, "Why did you have to live on the streets anyway?" Amon asked suddenly, turning to face her, seeming genuinely confused, he couldn't think of a reason for her parents to abandon her. A silence came over them and only the sound of the wood crackling could be heard. Amon was just thinking that he may have tried to dig too far into her life too fast when she broke the silence.

"My mother," she started, Amon was the first person who had taken her in and actually cared unconditionally. At this point, she liked to think that there was a bit of a bond between them, a friendship almost. Him being the first person to hear the whole story wouldn't be so bad, Mako, Bolin and Asami never knew the full story of what happened, they knew better than to ask and Korra didn't have a chance to open up about it. She never had a chance to open up about the thing that she knew she woke up silently sobbing about almost every night. Never had a chance until now, "And my father were killed when I was a child." Korra closed her eyes and took a deep breath, readying herself to jump from this emotional diving board, "A robber shot them when they wouldn't give up their car because they said there was something important inside." Korra stopped speaking again as the memory replayed in her mind.

_It was the middle of the night, they were coming home from her birthday party, they had been laughing together as they made their way to the car, and holding Korra's hands. They placed her in the car and were about to get in themselves when a man dressed in black came dashing around the corner. He was out of breath, there was something shining in his hands under the street lights. His voice was panicked, he kept pointing at the car and yelling at her mother, pointing the shiny object at her father and mother. Korra didn't know what was happening, but she was scared._

_"Mommy!" Korra cried from inside the car. She was beating on the windows frightened. Korra's mother didn't answer, but instead turned to her husband who was saying something to the robber, but it angered him he was saying he didn't have time for this. Korra saw her mother looking frightened, saw her turn and unlock the car, saw a shocked look on her face as an explosion filled the night air._

_"Mommy!" Korra shrieked, leaping from the car on the side farthest from the situation. She could hear her father yelling now, she could hear fighting._

_Korra ran over to her mother nearly tripping over her birthday dress as she fell to her mother's side. Her mother had a hole where her heart was, it wouldn't stop bleeding, blood was getting all over Korra's small hands and she tried to stop the blood from coming out._

_"Run." she gurgled, stroking Korra's hair as Korra pulled her mother's head onto her lap, pushing her little hands over the hole in her mother's chest even harder, seeing that it wasn't working._

_"Mommy." Korra choked._

_"Shhh, just run, Korra's a strong girl right? You can do that right?" the words her mother spoke were struggled as her father went on fighting the man with the gun, neither of them noticing Korra._

_"Mommy?" Korra asked as her mother smiled one last time, before her eyes went far away, "MOMMY!" Korra was screaming now, grabbing her mother's face trying to wake her up, to no avail._

_"Korra!" Her father cried, turning to face her, freezing during the scuffle with the man. Freezing just long enough for the man to aim and fire, shooting Korra's father in the head, sending blood flying all over her. The man turned and pointed the gun at Korra who had frozen in shock, covered with the blood of her parents in her birthday dress and pretty curls that her mother had done for her that morning. She couldn't think what to do as the man's crazed eyes bore into her for a split second and then police sirens were headed their way. The man ran off leaving Korra, her parents and the car altogether and then Korra was crying loudly as bright lights came flashing into view. _

_"Shhh, shh it's okay." A voice called from the shadow's, "It's scary to deal with them, won't you come with me?" a voice of an man was coaxing from the shadows. A confused Korra stumbled towards him, more scared of the policemen than the kind sounding stranger. The man took her by the hand and they walked for hours until the were out of the area where she lived with her parents and into the slums. It felt wrong, something felt wrong. The man told her to wait outside while he went into a store, Korra nodded, but ran the first chance she got. Not a single person here even looked at the little girl covered in blood, but acted as if it was totally ran until she ran into a little girl who asked why she was crying, but Korra couldn't speak , she was too afraid. The girl looked at Korra's blood covered clothes and took her hand, offering her somewhere safe to go, that little girl had been Asami, and the safe place was living with her Mako and Bolin. Even after going to live with them, it was a week before Korra would eat and two years before she began talking knew Korra's parents were dead, but never asked what happened, afraid that Korra would end up how she was when she first came to live with them._

"Korra?" Amon asked placing a hand on her shoulder after her long silence.

"We were coming home from celebrating my birthday and they wouldn't give him the car because I was in it, my dad died because I didn't run when she said to!" Korra was yelling eyes still shut as the memories played in her head again. "I-I couldn't stop the bleeding and she died, I started crying and he shot my _father_. Their blood was all over me!" she was losing her breath, hyperventilating, when Amon gently gripped her shoulder in reassurance. The story may have been broken, she may not have given him all of the details, but he got the situation.

"I-I was the reason they died, if I hadn't been there, if it hadn't been my birthday, if I hadn't been _born_, they'd be alive now." Korra was on her feet screaming now and pacing, "I should be dead." she murmured, eyes desperate for something, for _something_ that she didn't know what it was, just anything to fill the void she felt every time she her tear filled eyes, she could see Amon's face wretch in pain as if he knew the feeling, she wondered if he did know the feeling.

"I should have been dead so many times, so why am I still here?" she fell to the ground, too many emotions washing over her as the breakdown she _knew_ was going to happen after so many years of holding everything in and being brave washed over her.

"You are alive for a reason." Amon rose from the couch as he spoke, voice filled with a kindness she had never heard before, it was soft and warm. The emptiness inside of her heart wanted that warmth closer.

"It's so tiring." she sobbed again, "I thought I was going to die the day you found me, I thought your voice was calling me to leave this world and be with my family again. I was happy thinking I would die. I'm supposed to be so strong, cuz I'm Korra, but I was happy thinking I'd die. Funny huh?" she let out a half snort half sob as she gazed over at the fire, and away from Amon as Amon remembered her talking to herself about her parents the day he picked her up off of the streets.

Amon cringed as he looked at her from where he was. He wanted to make space, he wanted to keep himself from getting his feelings confused, but here she was breaking down, the strongest girl he's met, breaking down after years of holding it all in. Seeing people seeming weak usually disgusted him, but seeing someone so strong suffer so long and break, was saddening. Perhaps because it reminded him of himself. Korra's body racked with another silent choked sob as her hands grabbed onto the carpet for dear life as if it was the only thing keeping her tied to the world. _'Ah, dammit, I can make space when this vacation is over.'_ Amon told himself inwardly as he lunged forward and pulled her close.

"You are an outstanding young lady, you hear me?" He murmured in her ear as her hands let go of the carpet and clenched the back of his sweater, while she went on roaring with tears the whole time, "You must have a reason to live if you're alive now. Honestly, if I thought you were someone the world would be better without I would have left you to die on the streets to die Korra, and I'm not just saying that to make you feel better. People like you just don't survive after all of the hardship, it takes a special kind of person to live the way you have and still be so strong and moral" Amon assured her, gently stoking back her hair as he tried to calm her the best he could. She didn't respond, but instead buried her face into his chest, sobbing harder now, but he kept stroking back her hair, trying the best he could to calm her.

She cried for hours as the memories left and returned, but Amon didn't let her go even when she nodded off against his chest, exhausted from the crying. Amon picked her up, walked over to the couch and sat, resting her on his lap so that her head was still resting on his chest, afraid that a sudden absence of warmth might wake her. He pulled the blanket over them and sighed; his people still hadn't come to get them, at this rate, he was never going to get space from this girl! He glanced down at her, now that she was fully asleep, eyelashes glistening with tears, face soaked, red and puffy, she looked oddly adorable. Without really thinking, Amon wiped her tears away with his thumb and then leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her wet cheek before sighing in frustration. This girl was getting closer and closer to him, he was getting more involved than he originally intended to, this mini vacation had made her a young woman in his eyes and not just a little girl anymore, but he _couldn't_ afford to see her as any more than a little girl. Amon rubbed his eyes tiredly, this was all becoming too much to deal with, he just needed to get out of here before things got any worse.

_Bang bang bang!_ The door shook, "Amon! Sir are you in there!?" Lue was calling through the door.

"Took you guys long enough." Amon mumbled, quickly wrapping the blanket around Korra. "Could you guys have taken _any_ longer?" Amon hissed angrily as he opened the door, Korra still in his arms.

The shock on Lue's face was clear even as he fumbled for an answer, "W-we are sorry sir, the road was closed and we had to hire a truck to clear the path." Lue explained, his eyes flashing between Korra asleep in Amon's arms and Amon himself with a million questions in his eyes.

"Just grab my coat for me okay? I'm not in the mood for this right now." Amon hissed as he walked out to the van they drove up in. The door slid open for him as he approached and he saw Nina sitting in the back back row.

"Hello sir." She smiled as he sat down slowly in an effort to keep Korra asleep, "I thought Korra might need a change of clothes so I was brought along." Nina explained as Amon threw her a look that clearly questioned why she was there.

Amon sighed and fixed the blanket around Korra, "You really care about her don't you?" he asked, peering down at Korra's sleeping face.

"Yes." Nina answered, he could her the fond smile in her voice, "She reminds me of how my daughter would have been, if she were still around. She's a very special girl, she just makes things seem brighter, makes you look at things in a different light, don't you think?" Nina was asking now, turning to look at the soft look Amon had on his face as he gazed down at Korra.

"She does, but the darkness has no right to want to be near the light." he replied turning to look at Nina, knowing what she was really getting at.

Nina smiled a soft motherly smile that crinkled around her eyes, "Yes, but sometimes there is a light within the darkness, and sometimes that light wants nothing more than to be freed as it reaches out to the lights around it. If that weren't true, neither I or Lue or even Korra would have as much respect for you the way we do. You took us all in from desperate situations and kept us from falling into the dark. I do not know your past sir, but I can see that you didn't have someone there to do the same for you, but you've done well for yourself sir, you don't have to stay in the dark." she smiled, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Amon snorted a laugh, "Nina, you're only a few years older than me, but you always are so motherly." he smirked looking back at her.

"It's in my blood." Nina smiled clapping her hands together lightly.

Amon sighed, "I can see myself wanting to be with her, but I won't let myself want to be with her, it's not good for any of us. I'm a public figure, being with a younger woman would cause a stir, especially a minor. I'd be arrested and/or publicly humiliated, she'd feel it was her fault and honestly, I don't have time for a relationship. I have too much to do." he sighed. "Nina, I need some time away from her. She's a very different person than me, but she's also very much like me, and it's worrisome. If I leave her alone, she might not handle it well, but I can't keep trying to be there for her, it's going to lead to… complications. Will you _please_ look over her for me? I'm sorry to push this on you but-"

"It's fine, I understand." Nina went on waving her hands, indicating that he needn't say more, "I'll be sure to look over her carefully and keep her out of trouble the best I can as long as she's in the house, but I cannot promise anything while she's away." Nina frowned thinking back to the night she overheard Tarrlok yelling at Korra a few nights ago. Nina was fairly sure Amon didn't know about it, but she was going to stay quiet about it anyway.

"Thank you." Amom smiled, dropping the conversation and turning to face front as Lue climbed in the driver's seat and began the ride back home.

Nina sat in the back of the van, looking over to Amon and Korra as she was resting soundly in his arms, her face puffy as if she had been could only assume Korra must have opened up about something very painful for her to speak about based on what she knew about the situation as well as the way Korra was clinging to him in her sleep. _'I will do my best to look out for her, but things don't always go as planned. The way you're looking at her now, I doubt you'll be able to help falling for her, sir. Things might not go as you planned.' _Nina thought smiling to herself as Korra shifted in his arms, pulling him closer as she slept. _'Things already haven't gone as you planned, sir.'_

**I really wanted to make Korra's story clear about now, give Amon something to think about… and dwell on :) Sorry if it was kinda depressing though…. Also quick note to clarify, Lue is Amon's right hand man for almost everything, but Nina is very motherly and Amon does trust her, Amon really cannot miss Lue's dislike for Korra, and cannot miss the way Nina cares for Korra. He opened up to her to keep Korra safe even if it's keeping her safe from him, she occasionally gives him some good motherly advice, even though she's only 6 years older than him. Soooo thanks for reading, you guys always leave such kind reviews, they make me happy so thanks for that too, I appreciate it, I'm trying to make the story develop well and make a lot of chapters for this one so the reviews help keep me on track:D**


	9. The Man in the Mask

Chapter 9

**Probably gonna start being busier as of next month, so if I don't update as often... Anyway, on with the story :)**

"Sir, another stack of business papers have arrived to be reviewed and signed before you leave, also you have been invited for a business dinner again for this evening." the secretaries voice rang out over the speaker phone.

"I'll get right on that." Amon sighed, rubbing his forehead tiredly. It had been two weeks since he had gotten back home from the mini vacation that went terribly wrong. Since returning, he got right to work catching up on the paperwork he missed the day before, and as each day passed, more and more paperwork came in as well as more and more dinners. Between balancing his business, his social status and his alter ego, Amon was only home for minutes at a time and was getting most of his sleep on his way to events. The only good thing coming from being as mind-blowingly busy as he had been recently, was that he hadn't run into Korra that entire time they had been back, even when he did see her, he avoided her and had finally gotten his head together a bit. From leaving out earlier so that he wouldn't have to see her to walking in the opposite direction she was in upon seeing her, Amon had successfully avoided her in order to achieve a peace of mind. Nina had been looking after Korra and slipping him a few updates when he actually managed to have enough time to be home, apparently she was spending more time with her friends much to his relief, but she also seemed to be bothered by something, most likely the way someone she trusted was outright avoiding her.

Amon's eyes hurriedly scanned over the papers before him as he let go of his thoughts. Signing this, denying that, it was a pretty boring job that day, and he still had a dinner to attend and a meeting with some… associates of his. By the time Amon had finished work, his writing hand was sore, but all of the papers were signed. Now for the dinner party.

The building was nice, there was a live band playing and a grand room for socializing, but the company was far less pleasant. Amon couldn't count the amount of people that came to him asking for support financially or politically, or asking where his intern whom he brought along before was. It was all so frustrating, but no matter how much he wanted to yell or scream or punch them, Amon somehow managed to grin and bear it long enough to think of an excuse to excuse himself halfway through the dinner. After all, he had other plans for tonight, none of which involved sitting around with a bunch of old guys discussing financial advice.

After telling the host how _'Extraordinary'_ his dinner had been, Amon exited the building rolling his eyes before getting in his ride to go back home, eyes fixed on the clock the entire time, he couldn't be late for his appointment after all. Amon sat in the car tiredly as the car drove home, he knew his change of clothes were waiting folded neatly in the closet and hidden, exactly where he left it last time. His mind wandered lazily as he gazed out of the windows at the people walking under the soft street lights. They were laughing, smiling holding hands, completely oblivious to the world around them. Amon's lips pulled into a smug grin as he wondered how nice it must have been to see the world in rose coloured glasses, completely unaware of how harsh reality can be.

The car pulled up to the outer gate, just in time for Amon to see the front gate open and Korra slip out.

"Where are you going so late?" Amon called out as he stepped out of the car, which he immediately kicked himself for. Sudden curiosity caused him to ask the question, but he didn't have time for that, especially on a night like that very night.

"I'm going to see my friends." She replied simply as she kept walking.

"It's not safe for you to walk around so late." Amon went on. Tonight was an important night, Amon knew that people would be wandering the streets all rilled up that night and he wasn't comfortable knowing that Korra might end up getting caught up in it all.

"I'll be fine, Amon." She sighed irritatedly.

"Fine." He expected that she would be a bit upset with him, especially after she opened up to him and then he went out of his way to avoid her. Besides, she was only going to see her friends, Tenzin would be there, she would be safe with them.

"Don't wait up." She went on bitterly, leaving him behind, suddenly happy that it wasn't dark enough so that he would see her face and feel guilty for making her feel emotionally abandoned. It was for the best after all, he would worry about getting on her good side again once his mind was together and the weak spot he felt forming for her disappeared.. That is if he would even have the time to do so, after all, she was only planning to stay until spring, that was what they agreed on.

The door to the house yawned open and Amon sighed heavily for what must have been the millionth time that day as he grabbed the large suitcase in the closet before turning to head back out again. He had to keep his mind on the task ahead, he had told himself that this night was very important, he couldn't be distracted with Korra at the moment, he wasn't even wanting to _think_ about her as of late… But still where would she go once spring came around, surly not where she used to live, but then again, where else did she have to go?

Amon tossed the suitcase in the back seat and took in a deep breath of the cool winter air, letting his thoughts float away. He would worry about everything else, when the time came, but tonight, he needed to focus on the task at hand, the thing he had been planning for months. Tonight was the rally that the city needed so desperately. Tonight the city would see what equality _really_ meant.

Korra was practically stomping down the street by the time she made her way to the outside of Tenzin's gym and knocked less than patiently on the door. How could Amon dare ask where she was going? He hadn't so much as said a word to her since she opened up about her past. He comforted her in the moment just to ignore her from then on? Was she so disgusting because of having a weakness? Was she so disgusting because her past hurt her? Is that why he stayed away? Perhaps Korra had been right from the start, maybe Amon did keep her around as his own personal jester. Laughing at her child like manners, playing with her feelings, pushing her away when he got bored, it must have all been some kind of sick entertainment for him! The rage of feeling used made Korra want to leave and never return, but she would keep her word and stay until winter ended. For now, she would have to deal with this silently only finding comfort in the words of a nameless man whom Mako had passed onto her a few days after returning after seeing how disoriented Korra was.

The gym door swung open and tore Korra from her seething thoughts as Mako peered down at her tiredly. "Hey Korra," he murmured as he stepped aside to let her in.

"Hey." Korra replied just as dully as he did, "Where is everyone else?" Korra asked as she looked around in a borderline paranoid manner.

"They didn't want to come with us, so it'll just be us three." Mako explained as Tahno came down the stairs with a book bag slung over his shoulder, hair perfectly styled as usual.

"Oh joy, pretty boy again." Korra snorted as she rolled her eyes.

"Look I got the tickets to get us into this thing, so don't start with me unless you want to be left out, _Koh-rah_." Tahno smirked putting unnecessary emphasis on her name.

Korra narrowed her eyes, but said no more as Tahno's smile widened and they headed for the door. It was Korra's first time going to a rally, but apparently Tahno went frequently, claiming that the words fired him up and reminded him why he fought in the first place, a thought that he never expanded on once he seemed to remember he was talking to Korra. Tahno and Korra still didn't exactly get along, but there were times when their petty arguments turned into an actual conversation while Korra would watch him practice as she waited for her friends to come home.

"Whatever, let's just go." Mako suggested as he headed for the door. Tahno and Korra nodded before following him. They walked through the city, pulling their hoods over their heads as they got into the poorer part of town. The last thing any of them needed that night was for someone they knew seeing them headed to this thing, but as Korra looked around to the people flocking in the same direction they were going, she wondered if there was anyone in the area who _wasn't_ going to the rally. They scurried along quickly until they made it to the alley where the warehouse was in which the rally was being held.

The line to get in moved quickly as flyers were the ticket to get in and no one dared form a long line that would alert the authorities in anyway; this was a locals only event.

Once inside, Korra was swooped up by a wave of people and separated from Tahno and Mako. She spun around looking for them but couldn't see them over the heads of people behind her as they continued moving forward ultimately pushing Korra forward until she was standing right at the edge of the stage. Korra looked up at the stage and finally saw the man whose words had been the thing helping her move forward as he spoke of equality and a fair chance for the less fortunate. He stood silently on the stage, hands behind his back as he looked over the crowd behind the decorated porcelain mask he wore, even the way he stood demanded respect and he hadn't even begun speaking yet.

People continued piling in, yet the room remained completely silent, not a soul speaking as the masked man went on looking over the crowd just waiting. The poor, the middle class, the homeless, the gang members, even upright citizens were all in the warehouse that night, not a single one arguing the way they usually did on the streets, as they were all there for the same reason; the words of this masked man. The finalizing sound of the heavy warehouse doors shutting seemed to be the cue for the masked man as he walked towards the podium and stood behind it, still looking over the audience. Minutes passed and the man had still not said a word as every eyes in the building looked towards him expectantly.

"Good people of Republic City, we are here tonight to find our way to equality despite the risks." a smooth voice poured out over the sound system, or at least Korra thought it was smooth underneath the voice distortion that he seemed to be using, "We have been struggling to be heard as the people in charge play games with our livelihood. Are we not as human for not having six cars and a mansion?" He asked ad the crowd cheered, throwing their arms up and knocking Korra around a bit. "I have seen this city from the inside out and I know that we can do better, but there is no one in charge who is willing to do better for us! So we suffer." he went on as Korra nodded in agreement, she had been to the parties of the politicians and she could see that none of them cared about the little people like her or anyone else in this room for that matter. The crowd roared, eating up every word that he spoke. "I have watched the people of this city struggle for too long at the hands of the rich and I tire of it, just as I know you all do as well. How do I know you tire of it? I know because my first speech took place in a small corner in a bar near here with only a few people to listen, and now there is a warehouse full of people just as tired of all of this as I am! It has been established that we are tired of this for years, but all of this time we have feared to do anything and why?" Korra held her breath, she agreed with all that he was saying, but she wasn't sure where this was going all of a sudden, "Because of the law, the same laws that have overlooked us and oppressed us because it runs on money as well at a price none of us can afford to pay!" The crowd roared again in agreement, the excitement tangible in the air, "I say it's time we ignore the law and do what we must to be heard! Damn the politics, damn the consequences, we shall be heard or we shall take over, whatever comes first so long as we can assure our children and families a safe and fair place to grow up, a place where they actually have a fighting chance!" Korra stared up in shock as the man scanned the audience again taking in their excitement, sure Korra agreed with his point, but she wasn't agreeing with his methods. "Shall we claim our city for the people again? The way it should be, damn the cost!?" He was calling out to the people as he scanned the crowd again. The man next to Korra threw his arms up cheering loudly for a change, the movement, knocking Korra's hood off of her head just as the masked man looked her way.

"Crap!" Korra hissed throwing her hood over her head, the last thing she needed was for the man to know her face, he didn't seem sane, she didn't want to become a target or something. His face stayed turned in her direction as if he was staring at her, and in a panic, Korra decided it was time to leave. And quick.

**Amon pov-**

Amon resisted the urge to curse as his eyes fell on her as he remembered the mic was still on, but why was she there anyway? She said she was going to be with her friends, so why was she there at the rally? He watched as her eyes went wide and she pulled on her hood of her coat before disappearing in the crowd. "We shall be equal the way it was meant to be!" he called out in an attempt to wrap this up, before the cops showed up and so that he could make sure Korra got out of the area safely. With so many people so riled up, he knew that things would be crazy all over the city that night and cops would be crawling around the area, he didn't want her tangled up in that mess. "Tonight is the start of a new beginning!" he yelled into the crowd opening his arms widely watching how they ate up every word. The words they needed to move forward. The words this city needed for change.

Just as quickly as it started, the rally was over, the people were riled up and Amon was racing to the back room of the warehouse to make a quick and desperate call. A _really _desperate call.

"Tarrlok!" Amon hissed into his cellphone once he heard I'm pick up.

"Well hello to you too brother, I'm a little busy right now."

"Where are you right now?"

"Uhmm, look I don't need you worrying about whether I ruin my name or not, I'm a grown man and I can take care of myself so don-" Tarrlok started. Yes he knew that buying the secrets of his enemies from hackers and information dealers in the slums and using it to blackmail enemies wouldn't look good if he was found out… but it was too effective for Tarrlok to give up just yet, no matter how much his brother bugged him about it.

"So you're nearby…" Amon hummed thoughtfully, "I need you to do me a favor."

"I already told you not to worr- wait what?" Tarrlok asked, clearly confused, Amon never asked for favors.

"I think there was a rally down there tonight and I have reason to believe that Korra went to it. I have a feeling things might get a bit rough down there tonight, and I don't have time to go get her, so just do me a favor and pick her up and bring her home, okay?"

"I see, I suppose I can pick her up, but what's in it for me?" Tarrlok questioned.

"We can talk about it later, just go get her and take her home."

"You know I'd never give up a chance to assist a damsel in distress, just tell me the area she's in and I'll go look of her now." Amon could here him moving and heading outside from the other line. He sighed and told Tarrlok the area, hoping that her being in a car with Tarrlok for a 45 minute drive would be safer than her being out on the streets during the riots for an hour… At the moment he wasn't sure which was more dangerous.

Amon huffed as he looked around the empty room for a second, planning his next move. He would go home, take a quick shower, change his clothes and then drop by Tarrlok's to get Korra… No wait, maybe he would send someone to get her, the way he felt towards her was still a bit foggy and the last thing he needed was to tempt the fates.

"Tch.. I know things are getting bad when my only back up plan is Tarrlok." Amon scoffed, before turning quickly on his heel, head held down, before disapearing into the rowdy crowd of already rowdy people before slipping down a different alleyway and speeding back home. With the rally now out of the way, Amon's mind seemed dead set on fussing over Korra, especial now when he had more reasons to worry than ever.

-**Korra pov-**

The crowd seemed to rise up around her in an angry swarm as they all headed for the street, Korra wanting to get away from it, as everyone else stumbled to the streets dead set on making trouble. Her eyes scanned the crowd looking for Tahno and Mako, but only seeing angry faces that wanted the rights that the masked man went on about. Hot panic bubbled up in Korra's throat as she was pushed about by the crowd. Staying on her feet was quickly becoming a struggle as the crowd pushed on, while Korra tried her best not to fall as falling now would most likely mean being trampled to death. Around her she could hear glass breaking, people screaming, yelling, cheering, all the sounds of a riot, all of the sounds of something Korra really didn't want to be a part of. Faces seemed to turn into blurs as the people kept moving around her and Korra felt full fledged panic set in as she wished nothing more than to be at the one place she had grown to think of as safe; Amon's house. She was pissed at Amon for obviously avoiding her and ignoring her, but she was more pissed off that she trusted that he wouldn't be the kind of person to reject her and wanted to know _why_ he was acting that way more than anything. As much as Korra wanted to deny it, Amon and his home had become her safe haven, him being the one who always showed up and helped her out when she needed it the most. Korra snapped her eyes shut, shutting out the swarm of angry violent people, shutting out everything and in her mind, silently wishing that when she opened her eyes, Amon would be there again, just like he always was when she was in trouble, sure she hated depending on others so much, but there was just something about him that made her feel safe…

"Korra!" A voice called. Korra's eyes shot open and she scanned the crowd again, eyes searching for the scarred face she was used to seeing everyday up until a few weeks ago. "Korra, turn around!" Korra spun around and felt her heart drop to her stomach as she spun around and saw the all too familiar face of Tarrlok.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Korra stammered. She had to admit, he at least blended in with the crowd, wearing a dark black hoodie the hood pulled down far over his face.

"Hello to you too." Tarrlok snorted as he glanced around nervously, "I was around here for a bit of umm… business when I saw all of this going on, I saw you in the crowd and you looked a bit scared, so I came over." He shouted over the noise of the crowd. "You have no reason to be here. I can give you a ride home." he offered, taking in the almost dumb look on her face as she nodded. Sure Tarrlok loved himself a few dumb, gullible girls, but for some reason, seeing Korra all disoriented, was almost upsetting to him. She was refreshingly strong a stubborn, her being agreeable seemed so odd to him.

"Can you?" Korra asked.

"Let's get you out of here then." Tarrlok called over the crowd as he wasted no time tucking her under his arm and bracing himself to go against the crowd to get back to his car before the crowd found a way to destroy that too.

With her head ducked down under Tarrlok's arm, Korra could feel the bodies around her bumping into her, falling against her falling next to her, it was a miracle to her that Tarrlok could even manage to move against the crowd. Korra swallowed the odd disappointment she felt when she realized the person who came to help her wasn't Amon, though she did have to admit, Tarrlok was pretty damn brave to be a politician diving into a mass of politician hating people just to get her. Perhaps he wasn't as scummy as she thought… but he was still Tarrlok.

The crowd around the two seemed to thicken as Korra and Tarrlok braced themselves against them, leaning against one another for support and balance.

"Watch your head!" Tarrlok yelled as he shoved her forward and Korra felt herself fall into the backseat of his car right before he dove in after her. "Drive!" Tarrlok called up to his driver who immediately hit the gas. The two sat in the dark, panting heavily as they tried to catch their breaths.

"Thanks." Korra breathed, "You really saved me back there. Maybe you're braver and less slimy than you come off as." she managed to smirk as the relief of being safe again settled in.

"I try." Tarrlok smirked back, glad to see her feistiness show itself, "I can make a quick call to Amon and take you back." he went on moving to fish for his cellphone in his pocket, when her hand caught his before he could.

"No! Don't call, Amon." Korra blurted.

"Why not?" Tarrlok asked, quirking up one brow in sudden curiosity. Certainly it wasn't a lovers quarrel or anything… Right? Sure Amon went out of his way for this girl, but if he couldn't admit that he had feelings for her before, that wouldn't have changed so quickly…. Right? Tarrlok was suddenly very curious about the relationship between the two.

"I just don't want to. Just drop me off at my old house." she sighed, unsure where else to go. Korra knew Pema and Tenzin had a lot of kids and felt she would be in the way, the space Asami, Mako and Bolin lived in was too small for her to join them and she sure as hell didn't want to see Amon at the moment.

"There are about a thousand crazed people on the streets, they're kinda close to where you used to live and you want to go back there alone?"

"Well at the moment, I can't think of anywhere else to go so yeah." Korra sighed sitting back in the car seat.

"Korra, that's not a very good idea. Even _I_ can't let myself leave you there in a good conscious and I've done a lot of bad things with a good conscious. What if you spent the night at my home and then you can decide what you want to do in the morning." Tarrlok suggested. Korra looked at him through suspicious narrowed eyes under the dim street lights pouring in. "What?" he asked upon seeing the glare he was receiving.

"I'm calling my favor from before now. I'll spent the night at your house, only if you promise not to do anything."

"What?" Tarrlok blurted in shock, "Korra I've had a very long day, and the last thing on my mind would be messing with you when I want to sleep. Honestly, what kind of man do you see me as?" Tarrlok asked. But honestly, the way he had been hoping to end the night was with her in his bed next to him, but hey she called in her favor, he would honor that.

"Good then." Korra hummed, thumping her head back against the headrest, "And uh, thanks. I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of there when you showed up."

"Anytime." Tarrlok chuckled. He wanted nothing more than to ask what possessed her to even go there, but unlike his brother, he knew better than to press people over personal things.

Forty five minutes later, they pulled up to a gated estate and got out of the car. Tarrlok could hear Korra gasp as she stepped out and got a good look at his house. Tarrlok had made sure when this house was constructed it would be bigger and far more grand than his brother's. The large cream painted home had a pool seven bedrooms, three bathrooms and the most high end furniture that he could afford, but it was all worth it every time he heard someone gasp upon seeing the grandness of it all.

"This house is huge!" Korra exclaimed as they entered, her voice bouncing off of the high ceiling. Tarrlok chuckled lightly as he watched her curious blue eyes taking in everything. He suddenly understood why Amon seemed to be in a much better mood once she started living with him, she was quite amusing. A buzzing sound alerted Tarrlok that he was getting a call, a glance at the caller I.D showed that it was Amon. He really wasted no time on things like this.

"If you'll just excuse me a minute, I have to take this call and then I'll be back to show you around." Tarrlok said before walking out of her hearing range and taking the call.

"Did you get her?" Amon was asking from the other line before Tarrlok could even say 'hello'.

"I got her." Tarrlok smirked wickedly wondering how his brother would react when he found out Korra didn't want to see him.

"Good. Are you almost here?"

"About that, I told Korra that I would take her back home after I saved her from that crazed crowd, but she said she didn't want to go home. She said she didn't know where else to go, but where she grew up. I insisted it was too dangerous to do something like that and offered that she stay with me tonight, which she accepted."

"This is not the time to joke Tarrlok." Amon barked.

"Who's joking? I can get her right now to tell you if you don't believe me." Tarrlok went on, grin nearly splitting his face at this point.

"Than please do so." Amon replied, voice dangerously sharp.

"Korra! Can you come here for a second?" Tarrlok called holding the phone so that Amon could hear everything. "I called Amon just to let him know you were okay."

"Why bother calling him? He probably hasn't noticed I'm not back yet." Korra snapped. Tarrlok had to resist the childish urge to laugh in his brothers face and rub it in. Sure he wanted to upset Amon a bit, but Korra was just making this all the better.

"Well still, I thought it would be a good idea, just in case, but he seems to think that I brought you here against your will, can you _please_ tell him the truth?" Tarrlok asked, holding the phone out to her.

Korra glanced at Tarrlok and then at the phone before taking it and putting it to her ear, "Hello _sir_." Korra answered in a voice colder than ice, so cold it almost burned Amon's ears.

"Korra…" Amon started, unsure of what to say next. He had outright avoided her for weeks and now he was asking her to come back? She didn't know his reasons for acting this way, she had every right to be upset.

"I agreed to come here, _sir, _so don't worry about me, not that I thought you would anymore or anything." Korra went on before he could think of anything to say.

"Korra!" he barked into the phone.

"I may be a bit late for work tomorrow so please forgive that _sir._" Korra snapped before hitting the 'end call' button and holding the phone out to Tarrlok as Tarrlok struggled not to hit the ground in laughter and glee. Tarrlok had wanted for _years_ to tell his brother off, especially after all of the pain Amon caused his mother, and seeing this mere girl do so brought him immense joy.

"You must be really upset with him." Tarrlok managed to say without laughing as he took back his phone.

"Yeah, well, I doubt he really even cares." Korra huffed, "So are you gonna give me the grand tour or what?" Korra asked doing her best to put on a smile.

"Of course." Tarrlok smiled back indicating for her to follow him.

As they walked, Tarrlok glanced back at Korra, curiously. She was a very odd girl, when he first met her he told her off, their second meeting she pissed him off, she angered him further their third meeting, but he still found her devastatingly attractive. Now here she was flashing her claws at someone who wasn't him for once and letting him see a far less… well hostile and aggressive side of her and he had to admit, he quite liked it. There was something about her that was just so different than other females he had been around since jumping into the world of the rich and famous, she wasn't pretentious, she didn't want his money, hell she didn't really want anything to do with him if she could have helped it, but maybe all of that made her more attractive. He definitely saw why Amon was so protective of her especially now, but just as he saw that, he saw more reasons to like her aside from her painfully attractive exterior, but there was one thing different about his attraction to Korra versus his brother's attraction; Amon would reject his feelings thinking they were wrong because she was so young and impressionable and yadda yadda yadda. Tarrlok, on the other hand, didn't really bother himself about things like this since he always had a way out, and especially since he didn't have a conscious. In this situation, Tarrlok knew he had the upper hand, so long as his brother was rejecting his feelings for Korra, Tarrlok knew he had a fighting chance to swoop her away from under his nose so long as he kept pushing her away. A smile creeped onto Tarrlok's face as he began planning on how he was going to steal her away and as he planned he thought back to the night he first accused Amon of having feelings for Korra and couldn't help but think again of what he told Amon; this would be the truest example that brothers couldn't share their toys very well, even when there were no toys involved.

Ten minutes passed and Amon still sat in his home office with the phone held tight in his hand. She wasn't coming home tonight. He had been trying to avoid her all of this time and now that she willingly made space he felt, he felt, well he wasn't sure how he felt, but it wasn't anything good. Amon slammed the phone down on the tabled and dragged his hands exasperatedly down his scarred face before turning and looking out of the window behind him. His eyes fell on the light dust of snow that was draped over the acres of land behind his house, but his mind was far away. Amon knew Tarrlok had a thing for Korra and how reckless Tarrlok was when he wanted a girl paired with how clueless Korra seemed to be about men on sexual terms was a very worrisome pair. If he so much as touched her… Amon let out a low angry snarl, Korra was a big girl she could take care of herself he needed to stop worrying, he had gotten the space he wanted and he knew that, but with her not in the room down the hall in a place he knew was safe, he couldn't get her off of his mind.

"Sir." Nina called from the other side of the door, "I've brought you some tea."

"Right. Come in." Amon called, trying his best to compose himself. The door swung open and Nina strolled in with a small tray of tea that she swiftly placed in front of him.

"You didn't have to bring me tea, you're done for today." Amon sighed as he took the cup.

"Ah, yes I know, but I also wanted to ask you something." Nina went on, face wrinkled with concern, "Korra hasn't come back and I'm worried, she said she was going out with friends, but it's late now. Have you any ideas where s-"

"She's not coming back until tomorrow. She ran into someone she knew and decided to stay with them." Amon replied, voice hard and calculated, the same cold way Amon always talked to the staff before Korra came along. Nina knew something was wrong.

"Well then that's great, sir, you got the space you wanted right?" Nina did her best to sound cheerful as she measured Amon's reactions.

"I did indeed." he sighed sipping at the steaming tea.

"Well, I'll be sure to give her a good speech on staying out so late when she goes out like this. She had me so worried." Nina sighed as she turned for the door. Amon didn't reply as Nina left, but kept his eyes trained on the window and his mind stuck on a nagging worry his that girl's well being. Amon took another sip of tea. There was not enough chamomile tea in the world to put him to sleep when all he could worry about was Tarrlok jumping on Korra sometime throughout the night. Amon placed the cup to the side and let out a heavy sigh; this was going to be a very restless night for him.

**Yah.. I was kinda missing having Tarrlok in the story, he makes things so much more complex. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter ^_^ I also post this story on tumblr if there's people that rather read it there or something it's under the same username as my account , idk I just thought I'd put it out there. Sooooo yeah, thanks for reading, please review and sorry this chapter took longer than usual I had writers block _**


	10. I Cannot Tell a Lie

Chapter 10:

**I'm in a great mood and I decided to get another chapter done, I originally wanted to add it to the last chapter, but meh… Anywho it's not going to be a very long chapter, Amon's feelings are driving him crazy now and his will is wearing thin while Tarrlok has never had any will to stay away…. Onwards to story time…**

Korra sat in bed in the guest bedroom of Tarrlok's house thinking how odd it felt being in a home that _wasn't_ Amon's, but hey whatever, she wasn't eager to get back there anyway. Shifting her weight, Korra stared up at the ceiling before letting out a quick sigh of frustration. Sleep wasn't coming to her, her mind kept drifting to Amon the way it had been the last few weeks since they came back from vacation. It really bothered her that he would just push her away after making her hope that he was someone special, making her think he was someone she could trust.

"Urgh!" Korra grunted flopping around in the bed. Pushing Amon out of her mind for the moment, Korra's mind drifted to Tahno and Mako, did they make it back okay? Did they get out of the crowd, ugh, she would drop by and visit them tomorrow after work. She had to wonder if her old home would even still be standing once those angry swarms of people finally went home. They had been destroying everything in their path, crushing everything in their way, Korra had to come to terms with the fact that, her house might not still be there after that night. A shudder raced down Korra's spine as she thought of what would happen had she stayed out there any longer than she had, Tarrlok really saved her back there, she would have to thank him tomorrow and remember to treat him more kindly from now on. Sure he was still a bit of a creep, but at least when it came down to it, he seemed to have his head on straight. She wouldn't easily forget that. Her mind finally settling having run through all of the things bothering her, Korra felt her eyelids fall and dozed off into a deep slumber.

By the time the next morning came around, Korra had been up at six, just as she had gotten used to doing for work, and shuffled down the hall to the bathroom. After going to the bathroom, Korra washed her hands and glanced at her reflection wishing that she had a change of clothes and a tooth brush, alas, she had neither, oh well.

Trudging down the stairs to go to the kitchen and find something to eat, Korra was surprised to see a light pouring in from the kitchen into the hallway.

"Tarrlok?" Korra asked before rounding the corner, after all it could have very well been a thief.

"Hmm?" Tarrlok hummed, glancing up from where he sat alone at the small wooden table in the kitchen.

"What are you doing up so early? The sun is just coming up." Korra asked still standing in the kitchen doorway.

"I usually wake up this early and get ready for the day. A bit of quiet before the storm." Tarrlok smirked indicating the bowl of cereal in front of him, "And why are you up so early?"

"I usually wake up this time to clean at Amon's estate." Korra answered, glancing hungrily down at the marshmallow laden cereal in Tarrlok's bowl, "Hey, you have anymore of that?"

"On the shelf over there." Tarrlok replied pointing at the shelf near the refrigerator. Korra got a bowl from a cabinet and grabbed a spoon before pouring a large bowl of her favorite cereal. With the bowl in hand, Korra sat across from Tarrlok, unsure where else to go. She shoveled a few spoonfuls into her face before sighing contently. Tarrlok was staring at her as she did so, chewing thoughtfully.

"What?" Korra managed to ask around her mouthful of cereal goodness.

"Nothing, I'm just admiring your appetite." Tarrlok chuckled before taking another spoonful of his own cereal.

"Well it _is_ my favorite cereal. I'm actually surprised you have it." Korra laughed lightly.

"Of course I have it, it's my favorite cereal as well." Tarrlok smirked. He had to admit, having her around as company was surprisingly nice. Usually Tarrlok ate alone in that same spot everyday, either enjoying the silence or torturing himself with his own thoughts and memories. Still, Tarrlok had to admit, conversing with an attractive and funny young woman was refreshing to him, after all, the only women who had ever been in his house were either part of the cleaning staff or gone by morning, but hell, it's the life he chose to live.

"I didn't know this cereal came out in the prehistoric era." Korra teased pointing her spoon at Tarrlok as she spoke.

"Oh well aren't you a funny one? I'm not even that old, just wait until you're my age and you'll see." Tarrlok snorted.

"But then you'd _really_ be old" Korra chuckled the thought of an elderly Tarrlok wobbling around on a cane popping into her mind.

"That's right laugh it up." Tarrlok sighed, shoving the last of his cereal in his mouth, "Is this how you repay your savior?" Tarrlok challenged.

"Aww, don't get your braids in a bunch, I was just messing with you." Korra smirked as she went on eating, "I really am thankful though, you're not as bad as I thought." she smiled gently. Tarrlok found himself wordlessly staring at her, a fire building in the pit of his stomach as her lips pulled into a soft smile. Geez he thought her fiery side was a turn on, but it had nothing on this gentle side of her. Tarrlok suddenly wondered how she would react if he reached across and kissed her right now, the moment seemed right, they were actually getting along and having a playful conversation, surly this could work out well. Tarrlok shifted a bit, he was done thinking, he was readying himself to swoop over and pull her face to his, but just then, _ding dong_.

Tarrlok nearly hissed in annoyance as Korra looked up in shock, "You have company so early?" Korra asked glancing over to the now silently seething Tarrlok.

"I wonder who it could be." he sighed irritably as his butler came in the room about to announce who it was, but Tarrlok signaled for him to let whoever it was in. After all, Tarrlok knew exactly who it was and also knew that if he was this eager to get here so early, his plans to swoop in and take Korra away would be hitting a bit of a snag.

"Tarrlok." A raspy and approaching voice called further off.

"Hello, Amon." Tarrlok called lazily over his shoulder as he saw Korra visibly stiffen. Tarrlok reached down and patted her hand quickly, not only for reassurance, but to piss his brother off further.

"I've come to get Korra, she's late for her shift and the house is a bit of a mess." Amon said. Tarrlok turned and looked at his brother, if you didn't know him well, you'd think he looked the same as usual, but Tarrlok could see in Amon's tired eyes how much Korra being away had worried him.

"I'll leave once I'm done breakfast." Korra replied taking a noticeably smaller spoonful of food than a few minutes before.

"I have work to do Miss Korra, I have no time to spare for a worker's eating schedule, there is food at my estate, you can eat there." Amon went on irritably.

"If you don't have time than why didn't you send Lue to come get me or a driver?" Korra snapped, shooting a bone chilling gaze up at Amon. Tarrlok sat between to two watching as the tension in the air became thicker and thicker and as Amon became more and more irritated.

"Korra." Amon started, voice cold and measured, "We're leaving. Now." he went on grabbing her arm which she immediately jerked free.

"No, Amon!" She shouted standing up and looking him dead in the eye, "You treat me like I don't exist after I open up to you, the very first person I _really_ opened up to, pushes me away like I'm some toy and now that I'm gone for one night you drag me back there to be ignored some more? What kind of sick game are you trying to play? I thought you hated mind games, but maybe you're just the king of them!" she accused, "I expected this from people like Tarrlok, but he's proven to be better than that." she went on voice laced with bitter acid, "So what does that make you?" she finished, eyes narrowed in anger.

Tarrlok watched in shock, he always found it interesting when his brother was upset, but he was seriously fearing for Korra's life now that she pushed most of the buttons that Tarrlok wouldn't dare to even nudge. "Uhm, Korra, why don't we just calm down a bit?" Tarrlok suggested, resting his hand on her shoulder and pulling her away from where she stood near Amon. If he could only get her into the next room before everything she said sunk into Amon's head he might be able to save her from his wrath.

"No." Amon hissed, voice dark , "_We are leaving. Now_." He announced, grabbing her roughly by the wrist and pulling her right out from under Tarrlok's grip.

Amon dragged Korra out of the front door kicking and screaming ignoring every angry punch and vicious kick she landed on him. Tarrlok trailed after them suggesting that he should leave her alone and that dragging her around wasn't a good idea, but Amon ignored him. Amon effortlessly tossed her in the back of the car before getting in himself and shutting the door behind him before signaling for the driver to leave, leaving Tarrlok standing in front of his house alone in his robe, looking at the car peel away in shock. Tarrlok rubbed his forehead tiredly. Tarrlok could see Amon wasn't in the mood to be restrained just by the manner of which he dragged Korra away, which could have meant trouble for Tarrlok's plans to snatch Korra away with Amon throwing his cares to the wind. Yes this was a knot in his plans indeed. Tarrlok grunted angrily before turning and going back into his house, even if Amon did act on his feelings, Tarrlok sure as hell wasn't giving up that easily.

"What is wrong with you?" Korra demanded as she sat up in the speeding car. She was beginning to wonder if Amon had some impulse issues, after all he impulsively brought a street kid to live with him, impulsively comforted her, impulsively ignored her and now he was impulsively dragging her back after pushing her away.

"_Me? _What's wrong with _you?_ " Amon countered turning to face her with angry eyes. "Tarrlok told me were he found you last night, that entire part of the city is in ruins, you told me you were going to see your friends and I find out through Tarrlok of all people that you were running around in a riot?"

"Well so what if I was!?" Korra shrieked, not backing down from the irritated look in his eyes, "You were the one ignoring me! You think I didn't see the way you would walk off whenever I was in the same room as you? You think I didn't realize that you were avoiding me? You were the first person I opened up to about my past and I did because I trusted you! I trusted you to be better than that, but I guess the second a toy of yours shows a weak spot, it has to be disregarded, huh?" Korra challenged.

Amon glared down at her, eyes wide with shock, he could feel himself about to say something he was going to regret, but hell, he didn't even care at the moment, she was accusing him of being someone he wasn't and that would not stand, "You think I avoided you because I _wanted_ to, Korra?" he asked, voice sharp with fury, "I had no choice, you have a bright future ahead of you, and these ideals of mine, this life of mine, you shouldn't be involved in it, you were beginning to get to involved." Amon went on, somehow managing to avoid the real reason even in his rage.

Korra looked him dead in the eye for a second, both of them completely silent before she finally replied, "What a load of bullshit." she hissed.

Amon snapped his head away looking away for a second before turning back to her. She had done it, she had seen right through him, she had pissed him off like no one else had before and got to him like no one else could, her blue eyes were burning him with their anger and he was so done with all of it. "You really want to know what it is Korra? huh? Do you think you really want to know why I pushed you away?" he demanded, bloodshot eyes boring into her.

"Yes, Amon, I believe I've made it clear that I want to kn-" Korra's words were abruptly cut off as Amon swooped down and pressed his lips against hers. Korra's eyes flew open in shock, before drifting shut in a moment of confusion. His tongue flittered across her lips and she almost instantly parted her lips in response, his hand tangled itself in her hair the other rested at her waist as he explored her mouth. Korra was caught in the moment, nose filled with the spicy scent of his favorite soap, mind filled with the taste of him on her tongue, she was completely enveloped by him and even in her confused state she found herself reacting, pushing herself closer, her own arms managing to snake themselves around his neck. Something in the back of her mind was begging for her to stop, something about this being wrong, but her body pressed against him as he pulled her onto his lap deepening the kiss, ignored the nagging in the back of her head. His hands traveled down her back, sending shivers down her spine, his mouth left hers and trailed light nips against her neck as Korra leaned against him even more, _wanting_ more. It wasn't until the car stopped and Korra let out a loud gasp that her eyes flew open again that she realized what she was doing and pushed herself from his lap, landing in the seat next to him.

Amon cleared his throat and fixed his suit casually as if nothing even happened just as the driver came around and let them out. Korra quickly smoothed out her hair and then shuffled out after him, head held down in embarrassment, wondering if the driver had heard her gasp….

Korra pushed past Amon the second she got through the door, and rushed up to her room, yelling back something about getting to work right after she showered and changed. The second Korra burst through the bedroom the doors and slammed them shut behind her sliding down until she was sitting on the floor. Her hand drifted up to her lips before clasping in the side of her neck that her had been nibbling at in the car. "He kissed me?" Korra murmured in disbelief. It wasn't exactly a impulsive kind of kiss either, it was desperate and wanting, something with feelings behind it. Korra blinked in shock, _that_ was why he stayed away… He wanted her. Korra's hand shot up to cover her mouth in shock. Sure she had responded to the kiss, but it was kind of all subconscious actions, Korra tried to rack her brain as she tried to figure out how to feel about all of this, about how she _really_ felt about him, but she really couldn't even tell. Somehow managing to get to her feet and get to the bathroom, Korra glanced at her reflection and saw the faint little marks from Amon's teeth rising up on her skin and shook her head. When she attempted to mug this random 40 year old scarred man on the streets she never could have guessed that he would have opened his house to her, or that he would be such an important public figure and she never would have imagined that he would have one day kissed her under any circumstance. Korra let out a long tired sigh and drooped her head down. Now what was she going to do?

**Whoa, nine chapters of sexual tension (okay so maybe not nine entirely, but you know what I mean) And finally some action :) Yeah… I know this is what people were waiting for…. and this is just the beginning o_o …. I feel bad for Tarrlok though even though I wrote it that way and all :( Anyway thanks for supporting my story, please review if you don't mind ^^**


	11. We Need to Talk

Chapter 11

Calmly, Amon strolled up the stairs, down the hall, opened the large doors to the office in the middle of the hall and slid into the dark leather chair in his office, sitting in silence for what must have been at least ten minutes before slamming his hands down on the desk. "What have I done?" he sighed heavily before running his hands tiredly through his hair as the memory of kissing Korra replayed in his mind. That was not at all the way things were supposed to have gone. He had planned to pick her up and bring her back, not kiss her in the car! And dammit, she had even kissed him back, what was he supposed to make of that? Amon quickly remembered the look of utter shock on her face when she leapt from his lap and now figured she must have kissed him back as a natural reaction, after all she was still young reacting like that was totally explainable… So what was Amon's excuse? He was a forty year old man, his wild teenage hormones had gotten under control ages ago, so what was he doing? It was impossible for him to avoid her now, impossible to hide from what he had done and impossible for him to deny it anymore; the curiosity, the odd desire to reach out and hold her, they were all because of his feelings for her, but the problem was, he had no time for feelings.

Amon was the head of a revolution to take back power for the people who needed it by night and the head of a major company as well as a major figure in the community by day, his schedule was packed. He wasn't a very stable man underneath the mask he wore at rallies and the fake smiles he flashed at events and he knew that. Forming any kind of _stable _relationship between Korra and himself was simply impossible especially with her being a minor!

Pressing his fingers into his temples, Amon let out a deep breath. Okay okay, so for now he would wait, he had made a move and now he had to wait for her to react, trying to fix things now would only make things worse anyway. Glancing down at his watch, Amon decided he had no more time to spare on thinking as he had to be at work soon and he still needed a shower before he went for work. A long, cold

shower.

Korra hadn't left her room until she heard the _slam _of the front doors as Amon left for work. Letting out a sigh of relief, Korra wrapped a scarf around her neck so that Nina wouldn't ask about the little marks along the sides before composing herself and going to the study to find Nina.

"Hello, Korra." Nina greeted as Korra stepped through the entrance way to the study, "You have some nerve staying out all night without letting us know. Do you know how worried I was?" Nina demanded as she walked towards Korra and gently clasped onto her shoulders, brown eyes filled with concern.

"I'm sorry Nina, I was just with friends." Korra smiled gently. She wasn't completely lying, Tarrlok had saved her life and that was a kind of friendly thing to do.

"Hmmmm. Okay, well still, be careful out there, you have no idea what kind of men are out there wanting to feel you up." Nina swatted her arm gently as Korra felt a light flush spring up on her cheeks, thinking back to Amon.

"I understand." Korra laughed nervously, "I'll be careful. Wow, this place got awfully dusty since the last time, I'll get right to work." Korra stammered as she tried to escape Nina's worried gaze.

"I just finished this room, Korra."

"Did I say dusty? I meant spectacular! On to the next room then?"

"Sure, Korra…" Nina replied as she watched, Korra scurry out the door. "What is up with her today… something definitely happened.." Nina murmured to herself, crossing her arms as she followed Korra to the next room, "But what happened exactly?"

The day went on and Korra was thankful to have work to keep her thoughts from constantly drifting to Amon kissing her. Aside from work, Korra also had another thing to keep her mind busy, her worry about the well being of Tahno and Mako. Korra still didn't know if they had made it out of the riots and back home safely and wanted to go visit them the second she was done with work.

"I'm going out to meet up with Mako, Asami and Bolin. I'll be back before dinner!" Korra called to Nina as she ran through the door and outside before Nina could call her back.

Korra was still in the habit of walking everywhere she went. Sure she could have asked for a driver to take her everywhere, but Korra always found the walk relaxing, besides it was her travel method of choice before living with Amon. With a frustrated sigh Korra remembered that she was _trying_ not to think about him at the moment. Ack! This was really driving her crazy, she was living in his house for crying out loud! How could she possibly ignore him? At this rate Korra was really feeling like she was going to lose her mind. Perhaps after she checked in on Mako and Tahno she would try and find Asami for a bit of advice on the topic. But then she couldn't tell Asami it was Amon who kissed her, she would have to keep in anonymous. If anyone, _anyone_, found out that Amon kissed her, it would mean big trouble for him and as freaked out as Korra was feeling about everything that was going on, she didn't really want him to get in trouble with the law or anything. He had saved her after all, she could at least try and spare his name.

With Korra's mind on a million things, she arrived at Tenzin's studio before she even knew it. "Hello Korra." Tenzin greeted as he swung open the door.

"Hi Tenzin," Korra responded as she stepped into the gym and the familiar smell of sweat and feet hit her nose.

"I was actually going out. Meelo is scaring the babysitter and I can't leave them at home alone, so I guess I have to close the studio early today." Tenzin sighed rubbing his forehead tiredly, "This is the third babysitter Meelo scared off this week." Tenzin sighed.

"Aww, hang in there."Korra smiled patting him gently on the shoulder in a friendly gesture.

"Well yes." Tenzin chuckled straightening himself out as he went to grab his coat, "Well I'm sure you didn't come here to hear the tales of my family life. You're friends are upstairs resting." Tenzin pulled on his hat as he spoke, "I really have to go, so I'll see you later." Tenzin smiled as Korra waved goodbye to him.

Seconds later, Korra walked up the stairs and found Tahno, Asami and Bolin all sitting around the small table in their room looking at each other with a look that couldn't mean anything good.

"Hey guys." Korra laughed nervously as she entered the tense atmosphere.

"Korra, thank goodness you're okay." Asami cried, throwing her arms around Korra's neck and pulling her into a tight hug. "What were you guys thinking going to that rally! That entire half of the city was destroyed!" Asami was now yelling, jerking Korra away from her before pulling her back into a hug, "You had Bolin and I so worried…"

"Yeah, I actually got out before things got too crazy. Sorry for worrying you…"

"You're not as worrisome as Mako has been lately…" Bolin grumbled from where he sat cross-legged at the table.

"What do you mean?" Korra asked taking in the worried glances everyone seemed to have, "Where is he?" Korra asked as Asami loosened her grip and took a step back just as Tahno stood to his feet.

"Last night things started getting crazy and I wanted to leave, I mean I'm all for the guy's message, but the whole 'Revolution' he wants, isn't for me, I can't risk getting disqualified from my matches." Tahno sighed, trying his hardest to seem unworried about it all and failing terribly, "Anyway, I told Mako we should get going, but he didn't want to go home instead, and told me to leave but to look for you first. I thought he lost his mind, but figured it was his choice anyway, so I did as he said, but I couldn't find you. Not that I really care, but it's good you made it out okay." Tahno added, shrugging as he spoke.

"Mako didn't come home until early this morning, right before Tanzin came in.." Bolin chimed in, fiddling nervously with his fingers.

"I tried to ask him about it, but he just stormed off, he's been so weird lately… It isn't like him you know?" Asami went on with knit eyebrows. Korra nodded in agreement, Mako was the one who always had his head on straight, so why was he being so careless now? Looking around the room, Korra knew that everyone was worried; Asami for her boyfriend, Bolin for his brother and well, Korra didn't really know if Tahno was really worried, but he was there so he must have been at least a little concerned...

"Maybe it's a faze?" Korra offered.

"Nah, he's just so absorbed with that guy's message, he was so worked up during the rally." Tahno walked to the door as he spoke, "I'm gonna get going, i had some plans with my friends for today, you guys distracted me asking about Mako and now I'm late." Tahno groaned as if it was a big deal and a major pain to him.

"Yeah, whatever pretty boy, just be glad we even tolerate your presence." Korra rolled her eyes, "But still thanks for worrying about us." Korra offered with a small smile.

"Who says _worried_." He snorted, making a big show of getting his fringe to move as he did.

"The fact that you're still here."

Tahno scoffed, but didn't say anymore as he left the room and went out of the studio. Korra to face Asami and Bolin again. While Bolin was staring into space, his mind clearly occupied in his own little world, Korra a bit surprised to find Asami staring at her with a look of amused shock. What was she staring at anyway? Korra wondered and then in flash of panic she pulled the scarf she was wearing up higher around her neck, but from the look on Asami's face, she knew it was too late to hide it now.

"Korra, can we talk for a bit, you know, girl to girl?" Asami asked as she dragged Korra out into the hallway. Korra sighed as she felt her stomach drop. There was definitely no say in this anymore, Korra didn't need to wonder whether she should ask Asami for advice or not, Asami was going to ask now either way.

"What's that on your neck, Korra?" Asami asked the second she pulled the door shut behind her.

"W-what do you mean?" Korra stammered as Asami came in closer, leaving Korra trapped between the corner at the end of the hall and Asami herself.

"This!" pale fingers shot out and snatched the scarf right off of Korra's neck, as a smile spanned over her face, "No way! They really are there!" Asami squealed as Korra slapped her hand over her neck.

"Shh! Asami Bolin will hear you!" Korra hissed.

"So who is it? Is it Tahno? Did it happen at the rally? It would explain why he kept asking if we knew if you made it home okay before you showed up." Just as Korra was about to insist that Asami was wrong, the words sunk in.

"He asked about me? Huh…" Korra pondered. The two still weren't on the greatest of terms, for him to have asked about her was nothing short of odd.

"So I was right? Wow, I always thought you two would make a great couple, you guys just clash so much that I knew there had to be more to it than just that!" Asami went on, clasping Korra's hands and bouncing with enthusiasm.

"No no no, it wasn't Tahno!" Korra quickly corrected her friend. For a spilt second, Korra pondered just telling Asami that it had been Amon. If Asami liked couples that clashed, she would have a field day if she knew Amon made a move on her. On the other hand, this wasn't just about her, she didn't want anything getting out and ruining Amon's name, so with a last quick consideration she decided to change the story a bit. "There's a guy I met while living at Amon's place, he lives nearby. He's from this really rich family and he's been kind to me since we met. I never thought of being with him because his family wouldn't approve of someone like me. He trained his whole life to take over the business and if his family found out, they might take that away from him." Korra started and looked up to Asami to see if she was buying it so far, from the concerned look on her friend's face, it seemed like it so far. Good. "A few weeks ago he just cut me off, but I ran into him earlier today and when he found out I went to the rally last night, he was really upset. I kinda pushed him asking why he even cared after pushing me away for weeks, I asked why he even pushed me away… and he kissed me." Korra cringed a bit at the last part as the memory played fresh in her mind.

"Wow, that sounds so romantic, like the drama's on t.v." Asami grinned, eyes far away as if she was trying to imagine living the scenario. "So are you guys together now?" she pressed, green eyes lit up with curiosity.

"Well… No." Korra couldn't help but notice the way Asami's grin fell, "I really don't want to ruin his name and I honestly never thought of him in a romantic way at all. I don't know what to do.." Korra sighed heavily. The weight that had been on her shoulders felt lighter now after talking to Asami. Though Asami may have forced Korra to spill, she had to admit, she was glad she did.

"Sooo, how do you feel about him?"

"I- I don't know, it just happened so fast, and I kissed him back without thinking and I just don't know!" Korra spat out all in one breath, "I really don't know." Korra bit her lip in frustration, eyes fixed on the little curves that formed on the wooden floor, the little curves that looked so much like the scars on Amon's face. Thoughts pooled in Korra's head; Could she even love a man that much older and that much different from herself? He was refined, calm and composed, while she was rash, blunt and not so classy. In her head, she tried to imagine herself standing next to him, or being in his arms, but the image couldn't quite form in her head. Maybe she wasn't interested at all. Her mind driving back to the sharp smell of his favorite soap and her hands tangled in his soft hair. Maybe she was interested… This was too much for her, she really didn't know and since earlier, it had been driving her crazy!

"Well give it time and see. You can't know just like that. Just make a bit of space and get your mind together and then once you really know how you feel or at least have more of an idea, face him again and make that idea solid." Asami grinned before adding, "That's what I did when Mako first asked me out when we were still all living together. Right before he got the job with Tenzin, I told him I felt the same about him. Getting the job the same day just made everything all the better." Asami smiled, but it was a sad bitter smile of a woman who could feel that her lover was slipping away. With Korra's lack of skills in this field, all Korra could really do was offer her friend a small smile and a few kind words.

"I'm sure he'll be back to the same old, party-pooper Mako once whatever this little rebellion of his is out of his system." Korra smiled, "And thanks for the advice." she added. The whole waiting thing wasn't really for Korra, but she really didn't have any other options right now.

Asami smiled and opened her mouth to speak, but just then, Bolin threw the door open. "You guuuuyssss." Bolin groaned, "It's really lonely being stuck in this room by myself, can we play go fish or something that's not all _girl talky_." Bolin begged poking out his bottom lip.

Asami and Korra laughed, "Sure, Bo we can play." Korra smiled as they walked into the room again, but don't cry after I beat you like I always do." Korra smirked mischievously as she flopped down on one of the orange cushions near the low table.

"As if I'd cry!" Bolin scoffed in disbelief as he shuffled the cards.

A few hours later, Korra walked home with a victory under her belt and a warm smile from being with her friends on her face. As Korra walked towards the house, she stopped in her tracks, surprised to see Amon's car pull up just as she got to the doors.

Korra practically launched herself behind one of the nearby pillars and out of sight as she heard the doors open and his feet hit the ground as he stepped out. She was completely aware that unless he was preoccupied in the car, he had totally seen her duck behind the pillar. Korra winced in fear that he might come talk to her, but immediately relaxed upon hearing the house doors slam shut. A long deep breath flew out that Korra hadn't even realized she had been holding in until then. She would wait about ten minutes before daring to go inside. By now, she had Amon's habits after coming home memorized. He would walk in the door, wipe his shoes, probably tell Nina there was no need for her to prepare him dinner as he probably had another dinner party, then he would mill around a bit checking on things before finally going to his room and taking a long shower. It was amazing the things you remembered while living with someone.

After the ten minutes passed, Korra made a mad dash to her room, shutting the door behind her before grinning. She had made it. But that was only for now. How could she go on ignoring this, ignoring him? She worked for him! She was going to have to see him eventually, right?

Turns out Korra was wrong, a week passed from the incident and Korra hadn't seen him once. Korra expected to feel happier or lighter or at least have a little more clarity on her feelings for him, but if anything, her feelings were more of a mess than ever. She couldn't get him off her mind, she didn't want to think about him, but he was still there, it was insane.

'_Maybe Asami'_ was wrong, Korra silently concluded as she assisted Nina in cleaning the dining room table, _'Maybe facing him and getting this sorted out directly is the best way to go'_ she wondered. That was more her style anyway. She's talk to him, and try and settle things calmly, there was no way she could be with him anyway, so what was she even worried about? With her plan set in her mind, Korra went back to work full force, deciding already that she would talk to him that very night and get this whole thing done with so that she could move forward.

The day turned to night and Korra was done with work. Korra had just gotten out of the shower, hair still damp and scented with the vanilla shampoo she loved, when Amon finally arrived home. He didn't have a business dinner tonight, the first night in what seemed like forever, he was free to get some actual rest. He told the staff they didn't need to worry about making his dinner, but did request a cup of tea. That, Korra decided as she eavesdropped from around the corner, was her way in. Around the corner from the kitchen door, Korra waited patiently in the kitchen, chatting with the maid who was making the tea as she prepared it.

"I'll take that up for you Alisa." Korra smiled as the maid moved to pick up the tray, "You have a family at home and I have to stay here anyway so it's not a problem." Korra grinned even brighter as the maid's face lit up.

"Thanks, Korra, I own you one." Alisa smiled, handing Korra the tray and quickly whipping off her clean white apron.

"Don't mention it." Korra replied with a smirk as she turned and walked up the stairs. The walk seemed longer than usual as her mind raced wondering if she was doing the right thing, if she should just give him the tea and run, or better yet leave it by the door. One foot in front of the other, Korra felt herself knocking on his door in no time, mouth going dry as she thought about what she was about to do.

"Come in." His voice called through the door. Korra could hear the tray tremble from her hands shaking as she moved to open the door. She stepped quietly into the room, surprised to find he was sitting in the dark of his office only a single candle near his desk lit, back turned to the door as he faced a bookshelf. Korra gently placed the cup down on the table and took a step back.

"Amon. I think we need to talk." she murmured lightly.

He nearly jumped from his skin upon hearing her voice and was glad the shock on his face would go unseen as it was dark and his back was still turned to her. It had been a week and she hadn't said anything, he almost had begun to hope as he had forgotten about it. How could she have forgotten about it though! A man nearly twice her age kissed her! Even he couldn't imagine that being easy to forget.

After a long pause, Amon managed to pull himself together enough to reply, "I believe that may be for the best." he turned in the chair to face her and instantly wished he had carried on the conversation with his back turned to her. Even in the dim lighting, her eyes shone bright blue as if peering through every excuse he could think to make up, her damp hair clung to her skin and her lips that he learned only the week before how soft they really were, had been set in a determined smile.

"So, about last week…"

**Yes, i will be cruel and end this here. I like cliff hangers. nah, I just really wanted to get this chapter up, and cliff hangers are good. I hope to get the next chapter done quickly :) So thank you very much for reading my story up to here and keep your eyes open for another chapter soon… hopefully anyway.**


	12. Stop running away

Chapter 12

**Yeah so this chapter I struggled with a bit (been scatterbrained and busy), but I hope it's enjoyable and stuff o.o Sorry if it's not up to par with other chapters… Buuuuuuuuut yeah, on with the story**

"So about last week." Korra started, eyes fixed on the ground, not daring to look up at him, it was already too much to feel his eyes on her just as it was, "You kissed me, and I realized that I kissed you back, but it was a reaction. Neither of us have even tried to talk this over or anything and I'm tired of running from it, why did you kiss me, Amon?" She pulled her eyes up, finally gathering the courage to see what expression he was making.

"I see." He replied calmly sipping his tea. He could tell from the way she frowned as he calmly sipped his tea that she felt he was taking it too lightly, but he was really just stalling. He just needed a bit of time trying to think of what to say. Lying to her wasn't a big deal, if she hated him and wanted to leave because of his answer, than so be it. Up to that point, Amon had spent the larger part of his life living a lie; Amon, the name he had been using since he came here as a teenager was not even his real name! And besides being with this girl who would end up doing nothing but either getting in the way or just getting hurt would, and he _really_ didn't want that. "It was amusing." he smirked as he placed the cup back on the silver tray.

"What?" Korra practically snarled, eyes narrowed with anger.

"It was amusing, I took you in on a whim, is it much of a surprise that I would kiss you on a whim? I'm a man that says and does what I feel like doing. Haven't you noticed by now?" Amon smiled more propping himself up on his elbows, the confusion on her face eliciting a grin. She was going to buy it.

"Y-you, on a whim, you just kissed me? What would you have done if I told authorities that Amon, the leader of such great community events, had just kissed a minor? I realize you do things on whim, but I don't think you're stupid enough to risk that." Korra spat, glaring at him.

"You wouldn't tell, no one even has any record of you, why would they believe you over me?" He asked. No, he hadn't meant for this to turn into an argument, he wished she would have just taken the hint and left by now, but she still stood there, arms crossed over her chest and face twisted in anger. Despite himself he had to admit, something about the way the candle light was bouncing off of her face, the damp hair and her expression, was really making him consider giving into his whims yet again.

"You're lying!" Korra hissed as she marched closer and leaned over the table bringing her own face inches from his own.

"I'm not lying Korra." he insisted, trying his damnedest to keep his eyes from dropping to her lips or chest, but to focus on the rage filled eyes boring into him.

"You are a _liar_." she spat again, "I may be young, but I'm not stupid, _that_ kiss was more than on a whim, there was _meaning_ to it, I could feel that much."

"Oh I see." Amon pushed himself back into his seat, folding his hands patiently across his lap as another smirk graced his scarred face, "You're just trying to romanticize it all." he went on. This wasn't going has planned, so far she was seeing through it all, but he was _not_ letting it end that easily. Amon leaned in and brought his face centimeters from her ear before whispering in the lowest voice he could, "You just need to think I genuinely wanted you so that you wouldn't feel so bad about liking it, so that you wouldn't feel so bad about wanting something you can never have." Korra shivered despite herself as his words poured into his ears in a slow cold tone she had never heard from him before. She could feel the hot red blush on her cheeks as he sat back again, grinning wickedly at the look on her face.

By now, Korra could feel herself doubting her initial thoughts that he may have had feelings for her. He was truly becoming the cold and calculative man that she suspected him of being on more than one occasion. Looking at the cold grin plastered on his ravaged face, and the dark look in his eyes Korra honestly couldn't help but wonder if the kind man she thought she was beginning to know, was all a facade for the public and the people he offered to help. The people like Korra.

"You, you-" Korra huffed, unsure what to even say as her blood boiled with rage and disappointment.

"Yes? I what Korra?" He smirked even more amused now as he folded his hands on his lap. From the look on her face he could tell she was getting highly upset, she would probably leave, he would probably never see her again. That would be the best outcome for her sake. With his plans, Korra would be safer even living on the streets than living in his home if things were to go wrong. Besides, he could always send someone to check up on her every now and then to make sure she was okay. That would be enough for him. She would be safe from him and far away from Tarrlok's grubby hands that Amon could already tell he was trying to wrap around her. Yes, she needed to get far away from the world that he and his brother lived in, she was too bright to be immersed in the darkness that either of them seemed to thrive on. In his thoughts, Amon almost managed to miss that Korra was now leaning across the table to close the space between them, rage in her eyes one fist balled on the desk, the other in the air. She was poised to strike him, and this one time he would let her, as long as she left, it didn't matter.

"You LIAR!" She growled hand swinging down fast towards him. He closed his eyes to brace the impact, but they flew wide open again upon realizing he had not been hit at all, quite the opposite actually. Warm soft lips pressed against his, her hand tugged at the collar of his shirt, her eyebrows knit with fury. '_This' _ he realized instantly, _'She's just doing this because she knows I'm lying. She's trying to prove that I have feelings for her.'_ _I cannot give her the satisfaction'_ Amon told himself fiercely, trying the best he could to avoid the urge to yank her over the table and bring her closer and instead staying tight lipped and completely still.

She pulled away eyes searching for anything in his, face bright red with embarrassment or maybe it was shame?

"Korra, I've already told you I don't have any feelings for you, it was on a whim. Even if you stood here naked in front of me. I would feel _nothing_" he forced a yawn and prayed that she wasn't bold enough to try that. "For someone who said they have no feelings for me, you sure are trying hard. But I have no time for this, I thank you for the tea, but I was hoping to rest tonight, so if you would please leave Miss Korra." Amon sipped his tea in hopes it would ease the sick feeling forming in his stomach.

"You're a sick man _and _a liar." Korra spat, "I-I can't even bare being of the same species as a person like you, much less stay here!" she went on in a added in hushed frustration before storming out the door.

Amon sat and sipped at his tea. She was going to leave, he had figured as much. Every muscle told him to stop her just as much as they told him to leave her be. He was a fool for bringing her to live with him at all, he should have known the second he met someone as bright as her that it wouldn't have ended well. _'Perhaps'_ he pondered as he sipped the tea, _"This all would have been easier if I left her to die on the street…'_

Korra burst into her room, slamming the door behind her tears streaming down her face. How terrible, she had just kissed him to prove her point and been shut down, so why did it hurt so badly? He was supposed to be someone she could trust, and in a little under a month, he had proven that he could never be. Losing the one person who treated her so kindly? Finding out it was all some weird twisted game of the more fortunate? It hurt more than the thought of being rejected by him. She didn't want to be with him really, she just wanted to know _why _he kissed her, if he wanted to be an item it would have been difficult anyway, yet as she remembered the cold look in his eyes and the way he sat so unaffected as she threw herself out there and kissed him, she found herself feeling.. well … hurt.

With her back pressed against the door, Korra felt a hot tear trickle down her face. "No." she murmured barely above a strangled whisper, she was not going to let this affect her, after all it wasn't supposed to. By now, she figured Amon expected her to leave, but she was stronger than that, she would stay until spring just as she agreed to do before all of this. He was her boss and that was all he would be from here on out. Not someone she trusted, not someone she cared about, not someone who cared about her, just a man who she worked for in order to have a place to stay. That's all he was supposed to be anyway.

"Good morning Nina!" Korra smiled cheerily as she met Nina at the bottom of the stairs to meet her for work.

"Good morning, Korra." Nina smiled back just as brightly upon seeing Korra come down the stairs looking happier than she had in quite some time.

"Shall we get to work?"

"Yes, Amon is going in to work late today and on days like this we usually take breakfast up to him. The other girls are working on either food shopping or cleaning out the basement, with takes awhile, that leaves breakfast duty to us." Nina informed Korra as she headed for the kitchen. Korra inwardly cringed at the thought of having to see _him_ again after that argument last night, but then again, she didn't want to miss the look on his face when he saw that she hadn't left at all. With the anticipation of seeing the shocked expression pushing her forward, Korra helped Nina whip up this morning's breakfast; Eggs and waffles.

Twenty minutes later and the sweet smell of waffles and syrup filled the house. For a few seconds Korra could't help but think that _this_ was how a home should smell. The smell of homemade food wafting warm in the air, yeah, that was definitely how she imagined her home would have smelled if her parents had survived. Korra watched as Nina placed the food on two silver trays and remembered that this place, was not her home, this was just a place she was staying for now. _'Don't get attached.'_ Korra reminded herself as she picked up one of the trays and began to walk towards the steps.

"Breakfast!" Nina called as she knocked lightly on Amon's bedroom door.

"Come in." A drowsy voice replied.

Nina entered first; placing the tray on the table next to his bed, opening the large blue velvet curtains that hung over the window before motioning for Korra, who still stood in the doorway, to hand him his coffee so that they could leave him to eat.

Korra stood still in the doorway, before taking a deep breath and entering the sun bathed room with her head held high, "You're coffee sir." She said in a respectful tone as she placed he cup next to the tray of food. Though her tone may have been respectful, her blue eyes laughed watching as he nearly dropped his plate as she walked over. They both knew that he expected her to have left by now, he should have known it could have never been that easy.

Korra took a step back as Nina walked over to join her before they both bowed and turned to leave. A smirked danced on Korra's face as she turned to leave behind Nina.

"Korra, can I speak to you for a minute." Korra felt the smile fall right off her face the second she heard him call her.

Nina paused as she moved to close the door and gave them a perplexed look, but still turned and shut the doors behind her. The room was perfectly quiet after the doors shut and Korra stood perfectly still, eyes shut wishing she was anywhere else but there at the moment.

"Korra." Amon growled. A second ago Korra thought it would have been fun to see his shock and get under his skin, but with the tone he was using at the moment, she was suddenly wishing she let Nina deliver breakfast by herself. She bit down fiercely on her lip, shutting her eyes in frustration.

_'Korra!"_ He growled again, more angrily if possible.

"_Yes_ sir?" She was sure her lip would start bleeding if she bit it any harder.

"Korra! _Turn around!" _ He hissed.

With a sigh, Korra spun on her heels and faced him with the straightest face she could manage at the moment. Two bloodshot eyes stared up at her, heavy bags and knitted bushy eyebrows showing that he was too tired and too annoyed already to even be dealing with her this morning. _Maybe I should have left last night…_

"I thought you said you couldn't stand being in the same house as me. So why the hell are you here?" he questioned, voice cold and harsh.

"Yes sir, but I have a job to do. Personal feelings aside, I will stay as I originally promised to do until spring time." Korra replied, head held high before adding, "You being a filthy _liar_ will not change anything." the words came out with such vitriolic malice that it even bothered _him_ and that was saying a lot.

The room was utterly silent as Amon stared at her with a look on his face that he wasn't sure was either intense rage or utter disbelief… Probably both. He lied again and again to push her away, but she wouldn't budge, she just stayed put and took the blows in less than graceful stride. She wasn't going to leave no matter how much he lied, and he was no longer sure if he could keep lying.

"If that was all you needed I'll be leaving then sir." Korra replied completely stone faced as she gave a brief bow of her head and turned to leave. There was nothing else she had to say to him, she was just so done with it all. She was sick of being the toy of the rich, from this day on she would do her job, she would work, she would pay him no mind unless it was work related, that's all he would be. Though it seemed that no matter how much Korra tried to tell herself that it didn't matter, that the fact that she had grown to trust him so much since coming to live there only to have it shattered like _this_, no matter how much she tried to deny it, it hurt her more deeply than he would ever know.

Or at least that's what she thought. From where he sat as he watched her turn with such an empty look on her face, an expression he made so many times in his youth, an expression that drove him to becoming the two faced, lying man he was now. All he wanted right now was to make sure she was okay, but pushing her away was making her cold, the light in her eyes was dim, he couldn't help but wonder if this act that must have looked like betrayal from her point of view, would end up pushing her in the wrong direction. No, she couldn't end up like him, she was too much like _herself_ to be like him, what a shame it would be if there wasn't a _her_ in this world anymore and because of his actions. All of these thoughts raced through his head in mere milliseconds as he balanced the pros and cons of what path he could take next, like the businessman he was. After thinking it over, he moved.

"Wait." he found himself springing from the bed and catching her wrist, before she could leave, in one smooth movement, "Korra, you are being ridiculous, you want an old man to be in love with you? For what purpose? I have a business to run and I am a busy man, I don't have time for relationships _especially_ illegal ones with minors." _'I'm not Tarrlok after all…' _he added silently in his mind, "I don't want to be harsh right now, but you really need to snap out of it, there _cannot_ be anything between us Korra." he explained using the calmest voice he could muster. Her back was still turned to him and she was still in mid reach for the door handle, so he could only hope she'd turn so he could see her expression.

"I only wanted the truth from you." she murmured just loudly enough for him to hear if he strained his ears enough, "You were the one person I felt I could really trust and you just lied to me over and over again! You made me feel like there was someone I could depend on if I really needed to and then just ditched me!" she spun around now, livid as she punched at his chest with enough force to have made most people double over, not him of course, but most people none the less.

"I apologize for that, I couldn't figure out how else to make space." He looked down in time to notice the tears running down her flushed face and he froze up. In his lifetime, Amon had hurt a lot of people, he had made his father disappointed, he had made his mother cry, he had stolen, lied, cheated, and about a million other bad things that made people cry before him, but it never made him feel anything except for satisfaction every now and then, but this was not one of those times. His limbs felt as if they were made of granite, his heart fell to his stomach and burned from the acids as he watched her sniffle and try to stop crying, but to no avail, crying because of his actions. As if on their on accord, his arms reached out and pulled her close, stroking her hair the same way he had when she broke down on their vacation as he came to the mind boggling realization that he didn't like to see her cry. How odd?

"You shouldn't have lied to me. I would have understood, I didn't want anything, but the truth. I never expected you to way to be in a relationship anyway, I know you have a lot to lose."

"Again, I apologize, I just wasn't sure how to handle a situation as delicate as this."

"If you hadn't kissed me I would have never even thought about you in as anything more than a friend."

"The problem was, that I wasn't sure if I could have done the same, Korra." he admitted. He felt her go completely still in his arms, all tears stopped as she turned to look up at him in shock.

"S-so," she started, unsure of whether she really wanted to venture into this or not, "H-how do you really feel about me?"

Yes, as he had told himself the night before, he was Amon, he was a man who lived as a person who never existed, he was a man who could lie and cheat in the bat of an eye. Lying to one girl for her own sake was no big deal, she would only get hurt, all he needed to do was lie to her and push her away, right? But he couldn't do it. Big blue eyes shone, eyelashes clumped from tears staring up at him, probing for the truth. He couldn't lie to her anymore, it didn't work anyway, she was just too… Korra. "I honestly do not know, Korra." He sighed "but whether I knew or not wouldn't make a difference. I cannot act on my emotions, I have too much at stake." he sighed as he hoped she would never have to know just how much at stake he _really_ had.

"Hmm, it's okay." Korra nodded "I'm not quite sure how I feel about you either… " she sighed eyes fixed on the floor, "But like you said it doesn't really matter." she snorted risking a glance up at him and immediately being surprised by the look on his face; he was staring at her now with an unreadable expression as if he was deep in thought, which he was.

_'Maybe it wouldn't be too bad to be with her.' _he thought to himself_ 'I could have a bit more of an influence on her whereabouts without making it painfully awkward, I could take her along with me to events as an intern without making her feel uncomfortable and I could keep Tarrlok from getting his grubby hands on her at the same time.' _he pondered, but all of those words, he knew they meant nothing even as he thought them. They were all excuses so that he could for once in his life do something he truly wanted. For the first time in his life he met someone he didn't want to lose, and didn't _have _to lose if he played his cards right. There was not another girl who had saved his life, who could get under his skin, who would run into a blizzard for him and carry him back or had blue eyes that would look up at him the way she was right now. There was not another person like her and frankly, he knew that from the start when she tried to rob him and walked off all pridefully. What started out as intrigue had somehow developed into something more as the months had passed and now he sat here rationalizing and making up excuses so that he could think of a way to just do what he wanted for once. _"You're already doing illegal business now as it is, if you get caught, being with a minor is the least of your worries' _a little voice rang out in the back of his head. Though he knew that it also worked the other way around and that if he was found out being with her it might lead to him being found out as the head of the underground revolution, it might lead to some problems, but, as his hand rose from her hair and moved to stroke her wet cheek with his thumb, he realized; he didn't care at the moment,.

Korra only stared up slightly shocked as his rough thumb moved from her cheek to trace her lips, his eyes fixed on them as he did so.

"I-I thought you said you weren't sure how you felt." Korra stammered, trying to figure out exactly how to react and failing miserably.

"Well, how else will either of us know how to move forward if neither of us are sure how we feel?"

"But what about what you just said about your business and being a busy man an-"

"Korra." he bit, "Forget what I just said okay? It won't affect you either way." okay so he knew that may have been a bit of a lie, but he would try his best to make it true.

For a second the both of them just stood there, both knowing that whatever they did back, they couldn't take back this time around and neither really caring at the moment anymore. To both of their surprise, Korra moved first, pressing her lips against his just as she had the night before except this time around, Amon was more than willing to kiss her back. The kiss started gentle and almost chaste, but in mere seconds that all changed. His hand drifted to her waist, pulling her in closer as she parted her lips to let him in. Something in his mind was still telling him that this was wrong and that this could never end well and though he agreed, the more selfish part of him that was beginning to show itself more, couldn't tear away from the feeling of her practically melting into his arms. He had been with plenty of women in the past, but this, he thought as his lips grazed her neck and caused her to shiver, was completely different.

Korra could feel herself slipping away into some euphoric place in the back of her mind as his lips moved lower and lower, kissing at her exposed collarbone, his nose pressed into her neck drinking in the scent of her and driving her crazy. Her back hit the wall and her eyes might have flung open in surprise had she not been preoccupied with pulling at the silky fabric of his pajama shirt. She wasn't sure what she was doing, she was just trying to keep up at the moment, trying to get her head together, trying to keep herself from getting too carried away and end up doing something she wasn't ready for, but it seemed impossible to get herself together with his arms wrapped around her.

One hand left her side and drifted to hair, pulling down the high ponytail as he moved his lips back up to leave a light trail of kisses across her jawline as her hair floated down. Korra tossed her head back, head grounding against the wall as she writhed, but too lost in the moment to even feel the impact. She could feel his hand slide down her side all the way down to her thigh, something was warning her that things were moving to fast, but with his breath against her skin, his body so close to her own, she couldn't even begin to care.

"Korra." He growled into her ear in an almost wild manner that she didn't think he could possess, that sent a wave of heat through her very being. She could feel her face go red as a low moan escaped her and her eyes flew open in time to meet Amon's. A low laugh escaped him, she could feel the reverberations through his chest as he did so. For the first time, Korra noted, his eyes had a truly warm look about them as he moved and rested his forehead against hers in a very uncharacteristic motion for him.

"Soooo, "Korra started breathlessly, "now what are we going to do, about us I mean?"

"Who knows? Let's just see what happens." He chuckled, moving to kiss the next side of her neck as his hand rounded her knee and began making a slow steady trail up her inner thigh. Korra felt her breath catch in a mixture of pleasure and panic. Sure his touch felt great, but this was a bit too much, this was just supposed to be them figuring out how they felt after all and it seemed like a unanimous decision that they seemed to have mutual feelings, but she wanted to slow it down, take it slow or at least slower than this.

"Amon, sir?" a knock came from the other side of the door. Both of their eyes flew open in panic as they heard Nina's voice.

"What is it?" Amon called back, quickly untangling himself from Korra and fixing his now ruffled hair and clothes as Korra hurriedly pulled up her hair and smoothed her uniform.

"Have you seen Korra? Is she still with you?" Nina called again as the two shuffled apart. Amon moved back to sit on his bed and take a bite of his food, looking calm and unaffected as usual, while Korra fixed her dress ad stood tensely by the door looking back at Amon nearvously.

"Calm down Korra." Amon murmured barely loud enough for her to hear. She quickly took in a deep breath just as Amon spoke again, "Yes, she's still here, I had a question to ask her, but we've finished speaking. You may come get her if you wish."

Nina swung the doors open and looked around. Korra stood in front of her, face as red as a tomato, while Amon was sitting in his bed looking disinterestedly out of the window. For anyone who hadn't known Amon very well, they would have thought of it as nothing, but Nina knew him better than he'd like to think. She immediately saw that the relaxed way he sat and eyes fixed on the window looked a smudge too forced to be his usual calm self. Something was up, Amon must have made a move on Korra.

"Sorry, I'll be downstairs cleaning the dishes." Korra smiled the best she could before hurrying out of the room.

"Okay, Korra." Nina called as Amon looked over. Nina narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't say anything, he was her boss after all and during work hours, she would speak to him as such. After work, she would warn him of playing with Korra's feelings. Sure he meant well and she may have known that the two very well may have been good for each other, but Korra was a kind sweet young woman whom Nina was treating more and more like her own child, and Nina would let no man play with the emotions of her child no matter how much she may have respected him.

Amon watched as Nina followed Korra and left shortly after, leaving him to his own thoughts and an empty room. He knew he had done something stupid, but he also knew even if he didn't he would go insane trying to stay away. A heavy sigh escaped him despite the smile that now played on his scared face. The very first time they kiss on even ground and they nearly get caught… This was not going to be easy. _'On the bright side_, he thought as he _sipped his coffee, things with her never go as planned, perhaps if I think from the start things won't work out they will' _ he mused for a moment. Quickly glancing at the clock next to the bed, he realized that he should probably start getting ready for work soon.

It was good that he had gotten some rest, he had another rally tonight after work and as rowdy as they had been getting he needed the energy to get through the boring day job and get to his favorite part of the day; The wild energy packed air of the rallys, the screaming of the people for change, yes, these rally's may have been the first good thing he ever invested in. But now that he was going to most likely be having to try to make time for Korra as well, he was going to have to be even more careful… This was quickly turning into a delicate balancing act, good thing the man who was now living as Amon had once been a boy who learned to juggle these things at a young age for a quick meal. "It's amazing the things that help later on in life" Amon smirked to himself before getting up and walking toward the shower and readying himself for, if possible, even busier days.

**Wow… I don't really know how I feel about this chapter you guys… yay or nay? I needs some opinions… I thought about writing it over, but I kinda like this chapter at the same time, ack! I don't know : Anyways, thanks for reading as always.**


	13. The Drawer Only he Should Touch

**Okay, so like I said, from here on out I won't be able to update as often as I could before but I will try my best, so sorry about that, but please enjoy this chapter and I will work on the next one as soon as I have the time to so yes :) And sorry about the long wait for this, I was kinda moving houses and all sorts of craziness came up in my own life. I'm working through it all, but it did take time away from the things I really adore such as writing. Anyways Mild language, Sorry.**

Thankfully the day passed quickly, and before he knew it, Amon was standing in the only place he truly felt he belonged. The people were screaming his message, the excitement tangible in the air as it fueled him forward. As Amon looked out over the sea of people in front of him, he realized that though many people left claiming his message to be too extreme, even more people gathered to hear his words, fed up with the way they had been treated by society. The crowd spilled out of the warehouse and into the alley, and around the back streets as people crammed closer to hear his message, all of them, true advocates to his words. They _wanted_ equality, they would do anything for it. These were the people he would lead into battle to change the way this city, this country, this _world,_ worked.

These were his people, the energy that he shared with them, they returned ten fold. Though his plans to really set things in motion may have been still much further off, this, Amon thought as he looked over the vast ocean of people before him, was definitely a good start.

It was nearly morning when Amon finally returned home, silent as always if not more so. He was going to have to be extra careful now that he had just managed to further complicate his relationship with Korra. The memory of her being at the rally once before was still clear in his mind, she knew the mask and would be relentless in asking questions about it if she were to find it in his room. _Perhaps I would begin forbidding the maids to clean my room…_ he pondered as he tore the mask off his face and tucked in under his jacket as he approached his house.

In less than a minute, Amon crept into the house and made a silent dash to his room, quietly shutting the door behind him before letting out a small sigh of relief. The red lights from his alarm clock next to the bed shone bright flashing 4:30. Great, so he could go to bed for about an hour and a half before he had to get ready for work.. He decided as he slipped out of his clothing and into his silk pajamas. He would have to drink a lot of coffee if he was going to be able to stay up the next day at work, but with the way his plans were coming together, it was far more than worth it. A borderline wicked smile crept on his face as he climbed into his bed, he knew, in a few months he would be ready to strike and the world would be forever changed, just the way it needed to be. _'At least with the way things are now.'_ he thought as he shut his eyes and felt sleep begin to take over, _'I can keep her out of direct danger…'_

_"_Korra, it's time to wake up." Nina's voice called from what sounded like very far away to Korra's sleepy mind.

"Noooo, five more minutes." Korra whined digging her face in the warm silky pillows.

"Korra, we have to start working, Amon will be upset if we don't do what we're payed for…" Nina started but stopped as soon as Korra bolted up straight, face red as hot coals just from the sound of his name… Just as she thought, something was definitely up between those two...

"I'll be ready in a second." Korra blurted as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and flinched as her feet hit the cold wood flooring. Nina threw Korra a look of suspicion that Korra was completely oblivious to before turning and leaving the room.

Korra flew into the bathroom and quickly turned on the cold water in the sink before splashing her face several times. "Pull it together Korra.." She murmured to herself as she looked up at the still red stained face in the mirror.

She hadn't slept very well last night, the thought of having to face Amon the next morning weighing too heavily on her mind. She kissed him because well she just seemed to have a natural reaction to him that way, but she was far to aware that she didn't even no him that well on a personal level, in fact she would be lucky if he didn't push her away this time as he had done before. Korra grabbed her toothbrush and brushed her teeth with more strength than necessary as she was becoming more and more lost in her own thoughts. She really couldn't handle the thought of him pushing her away again, that would just be too much, if he dared pull that trick again. she was going to leave that very second. The day before must have been conformation of his feelings thought right? Well at least she was pretty sure it was, he did say he had feelings for her this time right? Or did he say that? Korra's mind was getting more and more muddled, the details getting more and more blurred as she began running in mental circles. After a quick shower, Korra's mind was still running in circles as she pulled on her uniform and left her room, heart picking up it's pace from the sheer terror of impending embarrassment.

"There you are, Korra." the voice came from behind her.

Korra felt her heart stop and the breath catch in her windpipe as she froze at the sound of his voice. She couldn't move, her face felt hot all the way up to her scalp. Well at least she knew he wasn't ignoring her, now the problem was that she couldn't seem to face him herself, oh the irony.

"Good morning sir." Korra managed to croak, her back still turned to him. She could here the steady thump of his footsteps as he approached her.

"It's quite rude to greet others with your back turned." she could here that wicked smile of his in his voice, "You should greet your boss face to face, miss Korra." he was next to her now, practically growling the words right into her ear, the warmth of his breath on her skin causing her to blush even deeper if possible. Her eyes snapped in the opposite direction of him and she could here him bark out a laugh as he took a step away from her.

"Don't tease me." she snarled poking her finger in his chest.

"Don't poke your boss." he snapped back, grabbing her hand and pulling her to face him. Korra peered up at him, mouth twitched up in a frown as she glanced up at his baggy yet smiling eyes. He looked exhausted, but still happier than usual.

"Amon," Korra sighed looking over her shoulder and peering over his as well, "What if the staff sees this?

"I sent Lue on an errand for me," he started, pulling her to his chest, "the rest of the staff doesn't show up for another hour," he lowered his lips to graze across her ears, "I sent Nina out on a chore while you were getting ready,"his hand traveled down to his waist and Korra felt her face go hot again, "That leaves us alone to ourselves for now." he pulled her closer and pulled gently pulling at her earlobes with his teeth savoring the way she automatically leaned against him, the light scent of her usual vanilla shampoo drifting up to meet him. It had been a long time since he had bothered being with a woman, but holding her like this definitely reminded him of the pluses of it all.

"Oh-hoh, funny how only a day ago you were pushing me away and saying you were only messing with me and now you can't take your hands off of me?" Korra questioned pulling her ear out of his grip and leaning back to look at him. His eyebrow shot up with teasing curiosity.

"Funny, you weren't complaining yesterday." he replied with a smirk as she rolled her eyes.

"Well…" Korra started, but a comeback wouldn't come to mind.

"I understand if you are hesitant." He started, pulling away from her as he headed towards the kitchen, "I wouldn't be upset if you decided you wanted nothing to do with me in anything more than a professional manor." he called over his shoulder.

"What?" Korra blurted, automatically trailing after him

"It's understandable if you've changed your mind about all of this, you're young you're aloud to."

"Then what was your excuse?" Korra mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?" Amon asked rounding the kitchen counter and stopping at the coffee maker.

"Nothing!" Korra chimed stopping across the counter. "Look," she sighed, settling her elbows on the smooth dark marble countertop, "I'm not trying to take anything back, okay? I'm just kinda curious, you know."

"Curious?" he turned from the coffee maker and faced her sipping on his plain black coffee, just the way he liked it, just the way she couldn't stand it.

"Yeah, I mean, you know so much about me and I don't even know that much about you, which is crazy when I remember that I'm kinda living in your house…"

"I own a business, I donate to the community, I'm a very busy man and I have a person whom I picked up off of the streets living with me… Is there anything else to know?"

"Well there's the obvious stuff that everyone knows, but I don't know that much about your past, I mean, you know my parents died and how they died, you know I lived on the streets most of my life and my friends and where I go and all of that, but I don't know things like that about you."Korra watched as Amon blinked slowly as if he never thought she would have even asked about it.

"Well," he placed his coffee down on the table before leaning back on the counter top behind him, "What exactly do you want to know?" Though he hadn't asked it with malice or anything, something about the way he said it warned her not to dig too deep, so Korra started with something simple.

"Well, Those scars.." Korra started, but upon seeing the way his face went stiff, she wasn't sure whether she should have continued but couldn't keep herself from mashing her foot in her mouth anyway, "When we went on that trip and I had to umm… change your clothes…" Korra paused wincing at how awkward she was making this, "Anyway it looked like the scars went really far down and I was wondering how you got them."

She didn't miss the way his lips curled into a bitter smile as he answered, "I'm sure you know by now Korra that when people want things they will go to extremes to get it when they want things." he looked at her, through her, past her, into a memory he thought he had forgotten, into a part of his mind he locked off, drifting in and out of the past and present in his own mind.

_He could feel his chest heaving as he ran through the alleyways. He was so young then, only 18 running for his life from one of the local bullies who always messed with him. It was a shark tooth necklace he wanted, it was his one that his brother gave him before he left their small village in the tundra and changed his name, he moved from only the year before. The necklace had little value, but it was the only piece of home that he had left and the bully had been asking for the necklace for days. Bothering Amon for it, pestering him for it, threatening him for it, and not because he really wanted the necklace, but because Amon had refused to hand it over. Sure, he could have gone on dealing with them constantly gawking at him for looking so different with his tribal clothes, darker skin and blue eyes, but he could not give up the only thing he had to remember the only family member that meant anything to him. Days of being pestered for the necklace turned into a chase one Saturday when the boy and his pals showed up at the shack he found out Amon had been living in with a gallon of gasoline and a dozen cruel words for the boy in the shack with no friends,no family, and no one to turn to. They doused the shack in gasoline, while Amon was still inside thinking that they could 'smoke him out' forgetting that a flimsy shack was bound to burn quickly. The fire spread in minutes, singeing Amon, burning the shack down, sending him running like a bat out of hell as the bullies chased down their prey. He made it to an alley despite his burns when they knocked him down and beat him up, snatching the necklace from his neck before leaving him in the alley bleeding profusely and with no choice but to crawl to a doctor alone. The funniest part of it was, the boys were all from wealthy families, but as soon as they saw they couldn't get what they wanted, they took it anyway. People like them became the people in charge and people like Amon were left behind, which was probably when his stride for equality began now that he thought about it…_

"Amon?" Korra called, waving her hand on front of his face, "Earth to Amon!" She called. His mind came back to the present leaving him to be greeted by the small yet concerned smile plastered on Korra's lips. "You kinda spaced out there for a second." she grinned pushing back against the countertop now as she studied the dark look on his face,"If you don't want to talk about your past just yet, it's okay."

"No it's fine," he replied, dark look on his face clearing up as he reminded himself that the past was the past and his past made him able to help shape the future of the world, "I moved here at a fairly young age and was bullied a lot. One day I suppose things went a bit to far and this happened." that was more or less what happened, she didn't need to know the details.

"Wait… Bullies… Burned you?" Korra questioned,a look of horror and disbelief on her face.

"What happened happened." He sighed heavily turning to pick up his coffee mug again, "My face is not necessary for my line of business anyway." He turned again and found her standing right next to him staring up at him with a sorrow laced expression.

"But it must have been difficult right?" she asked unthinkingly stroking the scars on his cheek left behind from the licks of flame that burned away his flesh, "People staring not knowing why you look the way you do, going into business when you look different from everyone else and are treated accordingly." now it was his turn to freeze under her touch. She was making him a bit uncomfortable now, not because of the way she stroked his cheek, or the gentle voice she was using, but because she understood what it was like, she to be shunned for appearance in her own way and because he had never had a person he knew that understood that feeling in his life.

"You learn to live with it and act accordingly." he sighed turning away from her again to search the cabinets for the salt and pepper. Anything to busy his hands and mind now.

"Still," He could hear Korra sigh behind him as he moved to walk to the fridge and take out a few eggs, "I can tell you must have been even more handsome before the scars.." Korra heard herself say. She saw him stop pulling a frying pan out and turn to face her, a questioning look on his face.

"Even more handsome? You think I'm handsome now?" he laughed a borderline bitter laugh.

"What? You have nice features!" she protested. Sure the skin may have been burnt, but the high cheekbones, perfectly shaped nose, shinning blue eyes against the spared tan skin along with his tall and well muscled frame definately made for a striking appearance, burn marks or not.

"Whatever you say, Korra." he said with a smirk before turning to separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Hearing her say that made him happier than he'd like to admit. He actually had a girlfriend before he was burned who left him the second she saw he was no longer the way he used to look. After that girl, he hadn't managed to get another date until his late twenties when he began truly establishing himself as a business owner. He figured by now he'd die alone rather than be with someone who was only with him for the money or his looks… He never would have expected to have met someone like Korra.

"Indeed whatever I say." she smirked back, playfully punching at his arm with enough force to actually hurt most people, but she was pretty sure he could handle it. "Soooo, what'ya makin'?" Korra asked peeking over his shoulders as he cut up a tomato.

"An omelet, why?" he peaked over from the side of his eye and looked at the look of wonder on her face as she watched him cook.

"I didn't know you could cook.."

"I lived alone for quite some time, if I had food, I'd manage to make something out of it." For a second he hadn't realized what he had implied until he noticed the questioning look Korra was giving him.

"_If_ you had food?" Korra scoffed, "Somehow it doesn't seem as if it would be that difficult when you inherited wealth like this." she chuckled. So she thought he had inherited the business? Well he guessed he could understand why she would have thought so, not many men would have been able to amass as much money as he had managed from his humble beginnings.

"I suppose." he smirked turning back to the pan, "Would you like one as well?"

"Yes please!" She blurted, eying the eggs as he poured the mixture into the hot pan.

"Well then." he said, placing the chopped tomato on top after a moment, "You will have to learn to make one for yourself." He watched as a frown came across her face.

"You are a cruel man…"

"I'll show you how to, Korra." he chuckled, as he folded the eggs over perfectly as Korra gawked in amazement. A minute or so later he flipped the omelet onto a plate before stepping aside to make space for Korra to join him near the counter. He showed her how to chop the vegetables and then watched as she nearly chopped her fingers off. He demonstrated how to crack and whisk the eggs before seeing how she made a mess mixing the eggshell ladened mixture and let's not even get started on her cooking the eggs.

Ten , minutes later and the two sat across from each other enjoying two beautiful omelets, both made by Amon. He glanced across the table as she took a bite and sighed in delight, "Amon, this is so freakin good!" she squealed, shoveling another bite into her mouth.

"You are really not built for domestic work are you." he chuckled taking a sip of his second cup of coffee.

"Well it's hard when you haven't exactly grown up in a domestic environment.." She pouted.

"You find it boring don't you?" he asked. She didn't answer, but let her eyes fixed on her food as she ate some more, "Korra, you can say what's on your mind, to me. We do have a bit more than a boss and employee relationship now after all."

He watched as she sighed heavily and slumped where she sat, "I'm really not good at this house work stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm super grateful for the job, but it's not very…"

"Interesting?" He offered.

"Well… Yeah."

He watched as she poked around at her omelet before looking around the were sparkling tiles, expensive appliances, extravagant marble counters, but in the end it was all contained in four walls, and he already knew that money wasn't going to impress a girl like Korra, not if she felt trapped.

"There are not many things I can offer you to do." he started.

"Oh! I know I wasn't complaining or anything, I was just saying…" she blurted, nearly knocking over her orange juice as she tried to clarify.

He thought it over a moment, in the beginning he did say she was intern for him and people had asked about her at meetings, perhaps her coming in and helping out at the office every now and then would be okay, but he would think about it a bit more before he brought it up to her.

"What's your favorite color?" She suddenly asked eyes shooting up from her food to meet his own eyes.

"Red, why?" he replied after a surprised pause.

"I just wanted to know…" she smiled, "Red is not really fitting for you though. You're calm and patient and giving… I'd think of you more as a tan, red is such a wild color."

"You think of me as boring?"

"No! Not boring, just a bit plain and mild, even a light blue would suit you, but not red."

"I see." he sipped his coffee, "Perhaps red is more suited for someone hotheaded and stubborn as you?"

"I am not hot headed or stubborn!" Korra blurted.

"If you insist." he smirked. He glanced up at the clock and realized that his time with her was almost up; Nina would be back soon, the other workers would be arriving soon, Lue would be returning and he himself had to get ready for work… But looking at the person sitting across from him, he didn't really feel like doing any of it.

"Don't you have to get ready for work soon?" She asked, suddenly as she shoveled the last of her food into her mouth.

"Indeed." He sighed.

"You don't want to?"

"Is that surprising as well? I didn't think most people liked work."

"Yeah," Korra snorted, "But most of those people don't own the place."

"Haha, touché." he chuckled as he placed his now empty coffee cup to the side, "I was just thinking it would be such a pity to leave your company." he practically purred as he came in closer to her.

"Whatever." she stammered, quickly sipping at her own drink in an attempt to hide the redness that was about to spring up on her face.

"Korra, look at me." his voice changed from playful to serious so quickly that she didn't think twice as her eyes darted up to meet his, "This is a very serious matter, if you are sure you don't want to back out now, will you be able to look forward without regrets? With us I mean. With the way the relationship between us sees to be going"

The dire look of grave concern was etched on his face as he peered down at her. She really wasn't sure whether she would be able to not regret what was going on in the end. She didn't want him to get in trouble, but she wasn't sure if she could walk away from him at the moment either, she was already too drawn to him.

"I will not regret." she grinned, "I don't regret." she added with a light kiss on his scarred cheek. By the perplexed look on his face, she could tell that her answer wasn't the answer he had been expecting.

"And how do you know that?" He asked almost diverting his eyes from her as she sat back again.

"Because," she smiled her usual stubborn smile, "I know that you were the first person to be so kind to me. How could I regret taking a chance with the first person who tried so hard to make me happy and did so much to look out for me?" she chuckled as if the answer that he would have never thought for her to say was simply the most simple thing she could have thought of and the second she said it, she knew it was the truth.

He blinked in astonishment. Once again, this young lady had managed to shock and intrigue him once again. If he hadn't known it before, he was certain now; Korra was one of a kind. In a slow methodical movement, he walked around the counter, stood next to her for a moment, and then moved to pull her into a solid embrace. For an awkward moment she was completely still and he was left to wonder if she was suddenly having second thoughts. He was worried she would suddenly push him away, but more worried by how much the thought her rejection bothered him, he was not going to let himself get wrapped around her finger, he couldn't afford that, especially not now. The shock of two arms much smaller than his own suddenly wrapping themselves around his body made his eyes fly open. Her hands stroked down his back in a soft soothing movement as if she could see his anguish. She could see how worried he was about all of this.

The subtle smell of vanilla drifted up to his nose. It was so odd, having a small warm body pressed against his own, _wanting_ to be near him just because of who he was, it was nice. It was very nice, something that would spoil him if he wasn't careful, though he could see himself looking forward to the warm moments like this. The silence and gentle warmth of this moment so starkly contrasted who he was, what he was used to and what he strived for so much so that he was convinced that he shouldn't have liked it as much as he did.

She shifted in his arms, drifting backwards, the warm spot from where her cheek had only just rested on was cooling quickly as she looked up at him with an unreadable look on her face. Her face was red, her eyes gazing shyly up at him in a manner that was very much not in her nature.

"What?" He questioned immediately. A pregnant silence filled the kitchen as she stared up at him wordlessly, her eyes darting around from the kitchen to him, back to the kitchen and then right back to him.

"What is it, Korra?" he asked again. Before he could think, she leaned up in one swift movement warm lips collided with his own with such force she sent them both barreling towards the counter as her lips nearly bruised his own. He could tell she felt awkward by her accidental force by the way she pulled away, blue eyes wide in innocent astonishment. It was odd how just from that, a hunger somewhere deep in his soul rose up in the pit of his abdomen and worked its way up.

"Korra." He purred leaning in against her. He could feel her shiver from the reverberations of his voice, causing the feeling in his stomach to flare up even more. The next thing they knew, he leaned in and kissed her, hungry, demanding, wanting. Just as he realized what he was doing, he expected her to shy away, but was surprised to find that she was moving just as desperately as he was. He could deal with that.

_'What the hell are you doing?'_ A little voice rang out in the back of Korra's mind, but he was everywhere now, strangling that little voice in the back of her mind with his hands that raced up and down her sides in a way that shut down the rest of her mind shortly after. He was moving against her, fast demanding impatient, pushing her back into the counter. She could feel her hair drift down around her face as he yanked it down from her ponytail. She was not used to this side of him, but somehow, something dark and primal within herself automatically responded, just as intensely. His hands were racing up her sides, making large hot circles as they made their way up to her chest, but her mind was focused on the sharp feeling of his teeth digging into her skin. She was scratching at the back of his shirt now, surly wrecking the silky fabric with the force of with she was digging her nails in. A low moan escaped her and for a moment she almost froze in embarrassment, until she felt him let out a long heated sigh against her ear. Once again he was saying her name, wanting, she knew what he wanted at this point and as she felt his hands move down towards her thighs, she wasn't sure how to say no, and wound up finding herself nodding against his chest. This time, much to her surprise, he froze. Smoldering blue eyes peered down at her, just as hungrily as she imagined they would, but it was only for a moment. The next moment, they were moving down the hallway, stumbling against each other, nearly knocking over vases and artwork that adorned the hallways. They were a tangled mess, a wreck, something was again reminding the both of them that there was no way this was going to end well, but the heat the two of them were sharing at the moment, was not letting either of them remember why it wouldn't work. After some time and many near falls down the stairs, they ended up in Amon's room with the door shut and nothing keeping them apart but time and the few shreds of fear from what they were seemingly headed into. It wasn't until Korra felt her back hit the soft fabric of what she had known to be his bed that she began to really try and think about what she was getting into. She was young, he was not, she cared for him sure, but a shard of her feared that if things kept going this way, he was going to leave her and she would once again end up feeling abandoned.

His hand was slowly making it's way from her knee to her inner thigh, pushing aside the flimsily fabric of her uniform as his breath poured her name hotly and wantingly into her ear over and over. No he wasn't sure if this was a good time for this, she was young and fickle, tomorrow, she might not even want him around for all he knew, but the way she moved in response to him, the feeling of soft, hot flesh under his hands somehow seemed to keep that higher thinking aside as his lips ran over her throat in primal desire. He let his thoughts go, it was no longer the time for that. This was wrong, but if he didn't think about that, it didn't have to be, age was just a number and she was timeless. With that last thought, he let go of all doubt and pushed his hand higher, slowly as not to frighten her, to give her time to say no, which she didn't seem to be doing. With one hand he pulled down the soft fabric of her underwear and quickly tossed it aside before glancing up at her again. Her face was bright red, she was rigid from were she looked up at him with huge eyes. She looked terrified.

"Korra," he sighed, pulling her into a gentle embrace, "relax, you don't have to do this if you are not ready."

"I am though!" She protested, "It's just… awkward I guess." She sighed as he loosened the embrace, "I'm not afraid though." she murmured, nipping at his ear as she spoke.

Though she still looked scared, he could hear in the resolution of her voice that she did feel as though she wanted this and wasn't going to let him just walk off at this point. He nodded and allowed himself to take one good look at her. Her dark vanilla scented hair was fanned out over the pillows and bright red sheets, soft carmel cheeks were painted with a shy red that was almost bright enough to match the sheets and crystal blue eyes shone with determination and something else… caring? affection? Both of these were far too foreign to register with him, but something about that look made him not just feel like what they were doing wasn't _bad_, but that it was _right_.

"Korra." hé murmured softly in her ear. He looked down at her as she scrunched her face in what seemed like terrified determination.

"h-hmm?

"I," he sighed, only for her would he do this, "I have to get ready for work soon, and there is no need for us to move so fast." He could see it on her face the whole time, she wasn't as ready as she thought she was. Yes, he could have taken her right there, but for what? For her to feel that that is the only way their relationship could grow? No, she was young, he had to be careful not to break who she was, not to accidentally crush her spirit. Hah! Just him thinking that made him nearly laugh at himself. The leader of a dangerous underground revolution worried about keeping his newly found teenage lover from getting hurt. If she was to get hurt, he was certain he would have been the cause no matter what, the irony was disgustingly hilarious. The shocked almost hurt look on Korra's face pulled him back to the moment.

"O-oh." She stuttered, sitting up quickly as he rolled from where had had only just been hovering over her. She should have known, he didn't want her. "If you didn't want me then why-?" She started.

"I don't think that right now would be a good time for this. Believe it or not, you might regret it." He felt a grim smirk play on his face as he walked towards his dresser to get a white silk button up shirt. Yes, she very well might regret it, just as he had. Even in his older age he could remember his first time clearly. The awkward stumbling, not knowing what to do with his hands or if he was even doing it right in the first place, and then at the very end, she threw him $50.00 and went on her merry way. Yes, his first time was for money, he was young when he first arrived to the city and unskilled, but his foreign appearance had always gotten him second glances as he walked around. It was the only time he ever did it for money, vowing to never let himself fall to that again, he took his money and went back to the alley he was living in never for her husband to know what he had just done with that woman, never for anyone to know.

The last thing he could want is for Korra to feel that if she sleeps with him now, she'd have to keep doing it for the sake of the relationship and for her living in his home. Perhaps he would reconsider once things between them were a bit more stable… or at least as stable as they could be between the two of them anyway.

"Why would I regret it!?" She demanded as she got to her feet, awkwardly fixing her dress as she stood.

"Trust me Korra. You might thank me for this one day."

He watched as Korra shot up in an angry huff, her face bright red. "I get it, you don't want me." she mumbled as she got to her feet, "You can say whatever you want, but in the end that's what it comes down to."

"It's not like that at all Korra."

"What the hell then!" the words boomed through her in a manner he had not at all been expecting, "You keep doing this to me, pushing me away, but never letting me get too far! You think I don't know that this could end up being a real mess? You're not the only one responsible for this relationship you know." Her face was twisted with anger, yet her voice was smooth and resolute, "If things go wrong, I will take on as much responsibility as you do."

"I see." He felt a smile play on his face, she surly was becoming more and more interesting by the day, "I will hold you to that then Miss Korra, but as a grown man with some morals, I don't really find it proper to start out a relationship with sex." he paused, crossing the room and grabbing her by the chin, "Whether I _really _want to, or not." he added, enjoying the flush that came across her face from the action. "Besides, this is your first relationship is it not?" he questioned, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Yeah, so?" She asked borderline defensively.

"Well ,I feel bad for being your first relationship as I am an old man compared to you, to start it off with just sex and not some sort of romance would be entirely unfair to you, do you not agree?"

Though she may not have answered, he knew that she was getting the message. More than anything else, even if he ultimately ruined her life, the least he could do for her was not let her feel like she was nothing more than a booty call at any point in their relationship.

"I understand." she sighed heavily. A smile played on his face again. She would never admit to misunderstanding or being wrong, she was too stubborn for that, but at least he knew she understood his intentions at this point.

Just then the sound of the front door opening sent a shock through the both of them.

"I guess our time together is up huh?" Korra sighed again looking up at him with a look that nearly made him regret pushing her away.

"It would seem so," he smiled, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek before breaking the embrace, "You should straighten yourself out before going downstairs, if the other maids question why the kitchen is a mess, don't worry about it, I will handle it."

"Okay, thanks." A warm hesitant smile played on her face as she made her way to the door. She didn't want to leave. She didn't want the moment to end, and much to his surprise, he didn't want it to end either.

"See you later then." he called as he turned to change into his work shirt. He heard the soft sound of the door shutting as she left and let out a deep sigh. The warm spot where her body had just been pressed against was growing cold by the second, it disturbed him how much he was disliking that already. He spared to the mess that the bed now was from him pushing her onto it, and then a glance to the small mound of fabric on the floor across for the bed. She left her underwear behind.

"How could she forget that?" He wondered with a small chuckle as he crossed the room and picked them up. Earlier, he had been too preoccupied to glance at them, but now he looked. They were floral printed with a little bow at the front, not really what he expected her to wear, but amusing none the less…

With the smile still playing on his scarred face, he crossed the room and opened the bottom dresser drawer and putting the top layer of clothing aside. The smile left his face as the mask he always wore stared up at him from where it sat on top of his jacket. Yet again he had forgotten who he was and his ultimate goal. Korra seemed to have a tendency to do that to him, but he found that to be one of the nicest things about her. A grimace worked its way to his mouth as he placed the underwear next to the mask before placing the other clothes on top.

No one could know who he really was when the night fell, no one could know who she was to him. In that bottom drawer, his secrets were slowly piling up. No one other than him should ever have to touch that drawer. Ever.

Korra practically bolted into her room, flopping down on her bed face first as she resisted the urge to squeal. She felt so dirty for wanting him to sleep with her just then, what was she thinking? Now that she was out of the room and away from the situation, she was glad he stopped her, it made her feel as if she really had some value to him. Now at least she knew, he didn't just want some little young girl for her body, he wasn't a sick sleezeball. He really cared for her, and liked her. How odd it was that the fact that he liked her was wrong…

With a sigh, Korra lifted her head from her pillow, "I left my underwear… How embarrassing…"

"Korra!" Nina's voice called from the other side of the door, "Why aren't you working the kitchen is a mess!"

"_Crap!_" Korra hissed, dashing to her drawer and rushing to put on underwear, "I'm sorry, I'll be down in a second, Nina!"

Having mastered the art of rushing, Korra was downstairs in less than a minute and just in time to see Amon heading for the door.

"Have a good day sir." she bowed slightly, not only out of courtesy, but to hide the blush that jumped to her face the second she saw him.

"You as well Miss Korra." He smiled as back before leaving.

"Korra!" Lue was now calling, "Go do your job."

"Ah, yes sir," Korra stammered practically running to get back to work before Lue could see how red her face was. Yes, she could already tell, this relationship was going to be hard to maintain, but he was sincere so no matter what, she would not let herself regret her decision. Not now, not ever. Or at least that's what she hoped for.

**Ugh, man I seriously suck at trying to write romantic stuff, I typically write action so don't judge me :p lol I kid, I hope to begin working on the chapters more, i'm just very busy and all, so please be patient if I cannot upload as much. I am very sorry, but I will try my very best as I really like writing this. Thanks to all of the people who were asking if I would continue writing, it pushed me to get myself together if just to get another chapter done :) Thank you loyal readers, you've made me very happy lol**


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